A Round up of Connected Home Global Summit 2011
Over the last three days the who is who of the connected home sector met in London at the annual Connected Home Global Summit to talk about the connected home; where it is and where it is going. The concept the connected home was discussed, analysed, predicted and examined by analysts, OEMs, Operators and vendors and at the end of three days there were some commonalities that we in the sector can work on going forward.
For us at connected home world these were the things everyone will be thinking about for the foreseeable future:
Where we are?
At the summit when the questions was asked, where are we? It was unanimous that the sector need to make is easy for everyone not just the enthusiast and that the fully connected home might be a way off- disappointed. There were many reasons for this but the two simple explanation was that consumers were not ready, said Eric Bruno of Verizon and the sector need to be more open. Kevin Mathers, Google’s Industry Head said it might not be as far off as we might think, because of the rate things are changing.
Trends and Developments
In terms of trends and development it was clear that the devices that will dominate the connected home for the foreseeable future are tablets and smart phones. The vendor, operators and analyst agreed that these two devices will increase while the PC, netbook and laptop decreases.
According to Richard Kramer of Analyst firm Arete and Michael Davies of Endeavour partners their studies show that Tablets and smart phones sales are out striping other consumer electronic devices. Apply products were seen as the trend setter in this area with Android closely behind.
Health sector is now tapping into the connectivity that the connected home has to offer, which is being looked into by Philips.
Where are we Going?
One thing was agreed and that was consumer we want to see what ever we want on whatever device they happen to be using – big challenge. As pointed out by Nora from Finaly! Entertaiment it is all about multi-screen, whether its television, mobile, tablet, PC or laptop consumer want its content to appear seamlessly.
Vodofone’s Steven Pater, challenged manufactures to offer more and stronger reasons for connected smart kitchen appliances. BT’s Head of Connected Home Research highlighted the fact that the method of connectivity within the home will depends (Wi-Fi, MoCA or Powerline Ethernet) on where you are Europe, UK or the U.S. and the home need better quality Wi-Fi solutions.
To address some of the connectivity issues the DLNA see them selves playing an integral to help with the seamless less and simplicity that consumers are asking for.
The next Connected Home event will by in the U.S. click here for information.