By Anton Le Saux, Head of Connectivity and Partner Sales at O2 Telefónica UK: There has been much talk this year about connected homes. Since new devices and appliances like the smart-fridge were unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in the US in January, there have been a flurry of acquisitions by various big market players - Apple acquiring Nest, Samsung acquiring SmartThings to name just two.
Clearly, the market makers and manufacturers see huge potential, but are consumers on board yet? There is a lot of work to do to bring this to market in a compelling and joined up way.
In a recent survey by Gekko 27 per cent of those asked were not interested in any connected device, with the biggest reasons stated as cost (45 per cent) and because they are not considered important to life (44 per cent).
But, as market makers, we shouldn't view this insight as negative, but as an indication of the immaturity of the market and the size of the job we need to do to educate, inform and bring to life the benefits on offer to make it both relevant and attractive to people.
It is the responsibility of those of us involved in connectivity, devices and platforms to bring to market products and solutions that are easy to use and provide clear human benefit.
Apps and platforms, devices and networks need to integrate seamlessly with little or no user intervention. Connectivity must be constant and bandwidth big enough to handle Big Data. We must keep our customer at the heart of our innovations to bring to market solutions that work and add value to their lives.
O2 is currently working with over 250 global partners to support and help grow the connected homes market worldwide. To find out more please contact anton.lesaux@telefonica.com