Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

IRobot faces a murky future amid rising Roomba competitors

The company is still “number one,” said Elizabeth Parks, president of market research firm Parks Associates in Dallas. But it’s a shaky number one. Parks estimates that iRobot had nearly two-thirds of the robot vacuum market in 2018, but now holds only a 48 percent share. Meanwhile, rival robot makers like SharkNinja, Roborock, Eufy, and Ecovacs have been steadily chipping away.

One possible reason, according to Parks, is concern about data privacy. More advanced versions of the Roomba and other robots use visual sensors to generate detailed maps of the user’s home. This information is shared with the manufacturers to develop more advanced products, but it could also potentially be used to monitor users.

From the article, "IRobot faces a murky future amid rising Roomba competitors" by Hiawatha Bray

Previously In The News

Next Gen Connected Devices Take Off & Consumer Love Them

Currently voice control is attracting much of the smart-home spotlight but it is products will also increasingly rely on video and data analytics, sound recognition and artificial intelligence to simp...

Alert! Will the Cable Eco-System Begin To Crash Tomorrow?

And, oh yeah, there are already quite a number of STBs that allow for streaming content that includes programming from so-called broadcast and cable networks as well as the major streaming services su...

Netgear Announces Orbi Tri-band WiFi System for Greater Home WiFi Coverage

“The connected home has become more data hungry than ever, and video consumption is the primary driver,” says Parks Associates. “Consumers are streaming video to every available screen from an increas...

ONLINE VIDEO ROUND-UP: Twitter, Facebook, Versy Make Big Moves

A recent study by Parks Associates claims that more millennials pay for online video than any other age groups. Highlights include that 23 percent of those surveyed only watch video online, and 61 per...