Providing Market Intelligence for 40 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

Gamer gear maker Razer jumps into smartphone market against Apple, Samsung

According to research released this week by Parks Associates, Apple and Samsung own more than 76 percent of the U.S. smartphone market, widening their lead over also-rans LG and Motorola. While Google...

Smart-home tech might help older adults live independently longer

A recent survey by the research firm Parks Associates of adults age 40 and over found that 80 percent expected to still be living in their own homes when they were 80 years old. That expectation, h...

Nest, now a Google subsidiary, starts selling video doorbell

Nest’s doorbell, called Nest Hello, marks its first entry into the $334 million video doorbell market, according to 2017 data from research firm Parks Associates. Last month, Amazon announced it had p...

The threat of the ‘DIY smart home’

In order to ensure interoperability with products from other manufacturers, more and more companies are beginning to turn to open standards such as ULE. Panasonic, Orange, Deutsche Telkom and Gigaset...