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

Roku IPO a Success, Despite Gaining Little Revenue From YouTube or Netflix

Amazon, for example, is able to sell its own TV streaming products as well as market and promote those products more prominently on its official website. But user trends favor the company’s services....

User experience key focus for smart TVs and SMPs

A Parks Associates report finds that makers of smart TVs and streaming media players (SMPs) are shifting strategies to focus on the user experience (UX) as device sales start to flatten out. Accord...

Is Apple's TV upgrade too pricy for consumers?

Indeed, Apple TV trails Roku and Google for most-used streaming devices, according to research firm Parks Associates, while it is almost neck and neck with Amazon's Fire devices. By offering lower-pri...

Why Amazon Is The Current King Of The Virtual Assistants

The smart home market is young, but it's growing rapidly as IoT makes its way into virtually every product that can benefit from some level of connectivity. Smart home device ownership in the United S...