Connectivity is an important facet of creating a smart home. Discussion of connectivity in consumer reviews for Smart Home devices consistently makes up about 30 percent of feedback. WiFi is top of mind for users when it comes to Smart Home device connectivity, with the most mentions of WiFi, followed distantly by talk of Routers, ZWave and Bluetooth.
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Sorry Siri, but Alexa has remained the most popular AI in consumer reviews of Smart Home devices. As the Smart Home market continues to develop and improve, the need for simple communication and control intensifies. In February 2016, we reported that Amazon was winning the battle for Smart Home consumer delight with their Echo smart speaker turned Smart Home hub. Since then, Amazon introduced two more Alexa enabled devices (the Dot and Tap) and has been improving the capabilities of the Alexa to allow users to control an ever expanding list of connected devices with Amazon’s AI. Recently, Smart Home consumers are discussing Amazon Echo and Alexa far more than voice control solutions from Apple, Google, and Microsoft; as shown in the funnel below.
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The Ring Smart Video Doorbell captured the most consumer attention out of Smart Home devices last month. Amazon Echo followed with the next highest volume of consumer reviews, but the Nest 3rd Generation Learning Thermostat was the most loved of the month’s popular devices.
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Nest recently announced that they would shutdown the service that keeps Revolv Hubs running, leaving consumers with a device as useless as a container of hummus. Revolv is owned by Nest and shut down their service so they could pour all their “energy into Works with Nest.” Nest also owns Dropcam, a smart security camera company.
Shortly after Nest acquired Dropcam, the company launched the Nest Cam smart security camera as an improvement to the Dropcam Pro. While consumers reported higher delight for Dropcam cameras when the Nest Cam was launched in June 2015, consumers have been losing interest and delight as Nest Cam users are becoming happier and more prevalent. Dropcam users are being transitioned to the Nest App, but given Nest’s recent announcement about shutting down Revolv, we can’t help but wonder if Dropcam users should also be worried about their Nest owned devices becoming bricks.
Trajectory in the chart below shows delight over time, size of bubbles represent review volume per week.
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Nest recently announced that they will shutdown the cloud service that runs Revolv. While the company framed this shut down as a stepping stone on the greater path to a connected home, the immediate reality is that homes which are currently made ‘smart’ with Revolv hardware will revert back to being ‘dumb.’
Nest Labs is a leading manufacturer in the Smart Home market. They make some of the most popular smart thermostats, smoke detectors and security cameras available today, and are owned by tech giant, Google (Alphabet). Nest’s kiss of death for Revolv demonstrates a glimpse into yet another issue with the codependence of software and hardware in the Smart Home. Since Revolv hubs, like many other connected devices, are controlled through the cloud, the devices will be rendered useless when Nest discontinues the software.
Killing Revolv’s cloud will leave consumers with an expensive paper weight, or an empty container of Hummus as Arlo Gilbert so eloquently argued in this post. Nest’s actions throw IoT down a rabbit hole, demonstrating that companies have the power devalue your $300 gadget. An article in Wired argues that Nest’s decision proves we “can’t rely on ‘Internet of Things,'” since it makes 18 month old hubs obsolete. That’s one expensive container of hummus, so what’s the point of investing in a device that the manufacturer could render useless once they develop the next generation?
While Nest’s decision to shut down Revolv will obviously effect the Smart Home market, our consumer data shows nothing but discontent with Revolv products. Delight for the Revolv hub has been falling since the acquisition, while delight for Nest devices climbs.
While some Revolv fans will miss their hubs, Nest is using this as an opportunity to grow and promote their Works With Nest initiative. As a response to inquiries about opening up Revolv development to third parties, Nest responded by saying: “Revolv was a great first step toward the connected home, but we believe that Works with Nest is a better solution and are allocating resources toward that program.”
Nest had to trim some fat to focus their greater Smart Home efforts. Revolv was a casualty in the ongoing battle of the Smart Home Ecosystem (which, by the way, Amazon is currently dominating over Apple and Nest, read about that here).
Will this decision make consumers think twice about purchasing more Nest hardware? We are continuously monitoring the entire Smart Home market, you can subscribe to our free weekly Smart Home updates, or monitor Smart Home brands, retail, and feature trends monthly with our Fit Kits.