A Connected Home Revolution Might Help Ring Up $300 Billion in Sales by 2020
The technological revolution that is the Connected Home could "represent one of the most significant investment opportunities over the next several years," investment firm Barclays noted on Tuesday.
As companies like Alphabet (GOOGL) - Get Report , Amazon.com (AMZN) - Get Report , Apple (AAPL) - Get Report , and Microsoft (MSFT) - Get Report all infiltrate the space, Barclays sees robust upside that far outweigh current estimates, arguing the "broader Connected Home" opportunity could eclipse $300 billion by 2020.
"We believe the hardware opportunity (which most public figures focus on) could be at least $130 billion by 2020 and this figure ignores higher ticket purchases such as connected appliances that are clearly becoming a bigger focus from vendors such as Samsung (SSNLF) and Whirlpool (WHR) - Get Report ," the firm noted. "The software/services/advertising opportunity could reach $170 billion based on more than 200 million users in developed markets."
Furthermore, Barclays argues that the introduction of voice assistant platforms will propel companies excelling in that area beyond expectations as well. "Companies that control the direct user relationship will control the tech stack and generate the greatest economic windfall."
"We forecast that the market for voice platforms will increase to over 220mn cumulative units by 2021 from roughly 50mn units in 2017," the firm added.
Barclays laid out the top characteristics a company must embody if it hopes to see its Connect Home technology succeed. These include simple installation, optimal network connection and power usage, inter-operability, low latency, natural language processing, and a robust ecosystem.
Another catalyst that will drive companies success within the Connected Home space is cost saving opportunities.
"We believe a final major driver for overall adoption rates will be the ability of consumers to save money on their electric bills," Barclays noted. "We estimate that the full opportunity of converting to a smart home with a fully electric vehicle replacing a conventional vehicle would save consumers 46.6% on their annual energy bills while also increasing overall household usage by 14% in our base case."
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