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

2015 Sees 16% Spike In Pay-TV First-Timers In Spain

A new Parks Associates report, Connected Consumer in Europe, reveals Spanish consumers are more likely than consumers in other Western European markets either to have never had pay-TV or to have cance...

Europe Still Reluctant To Pay For OTT Video

The number of paid OTT video subscriptions in Europe is significantly lower than in the US, according to data released this week by Parks Associates. While 64% of US broadband households subscribe to...

Netflix Has Lowest OTT US Subscriber Churn Rates

Several factors contribute to OTT video service churn by consumers, according to Brett Sappington, senior director of research at Parks Associates. “In some instances, consumers are experimenting with...

Amazon In Trouble? How Google Aims To Outsmart Alexa With Home

But can Home overtake Echo? If we look at two other competing devices from the companies, the Amazon Fire TV Stick and Google Chromecast, the two were virtually tied with 22% of streaming media player...