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

More Channels Tune in to Twitch

At last check, Twitch is home to more than a dozen 24/7 “channels,” including ones run and programmed by Fail Army, The Pet Collective, Shout TV, Baeble, Machinima, IGN, Red Bull TV, Arcade Cloud and...

Managing for the Optimized Content Bundle

According to Parks Associates, over a quarter of millennials subscribe to three or more over-the-top video services, and more than half use at least two. However, a separate U.S. survey from Vanson Bo...

Prediction: Ads Could Make Disney and Netflix Investors a Ton of Money

Fresh data from Parks Associates, however, suggests ad-supported streaming platforms are more palatable -- and probably going to be more profitable -- than most people might think. As it turns out, a...

Why Steve Jobs' Grand Vision for a Breakthrough Apple Product Remains Unfulfilled

While the HomePod is new and the actual speaker appears to be of a much higher fidelity than its rivals, it's not a game-changer. "Apple is in a position that they haven't often been in over the pa...