Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

Smart thermostats are tough sell, but ComEd hopes rebates boost interest

A study released this month by Parks Associates found only 18 percent of consumers would buy a smart thermostat at $250, but offering a $100 rebate more than doubled the pool of interested buyers.

"The market for smart thermostats is still in the early adopter phase," said Tom Kerber, director of internet of things strategy for Parks Associates, a Texas-based consumer technology research and consulting company. "To move beyond early adopters, they have to offer products at a lower price point."

Kerber said prices for the first-generation smart thermostats started at about $400 but have dropped to about $250 for Nest and other leading products. He said breaking through the $150 price point opens it up to a broader market.

From the article "Smart thermostats are tough sell, but ComEd hopes rebates boost interest" by Robert Channick.

Previously In The News

Kickstarter Darling Challenges Blue Apron--With a Hardware Twist

To this point, Patrice Samuels, a senior analyst at Parks Associates, a marketing research and consulting company, says that Tovala has to prove the food tastes good enough to offset the cost of p...

Comcast Rolls Out Its Own Connected-Home Products

Even among U.S. households with broadband service, newly released market research from Parks Associates found that less than 30 percent of respondents were familiar with where to buy smart-home produc...

Roku's New $30 Express Box Is The Cheapest Roku Yet

The lower end of the streaming video market is one of the fastest growing segments for the company, Roku says, both in its line of relatively inexpensive Roku TVs and its separate streaming media devi...

Password Sharing Not the Biggest Problem for SVOD Services, Study Says

For movie and TV studios, the big bugaboo is people illegally copying or downloading their IP. For SVOD services, it’s another form of piracy – password sharing, which cost companies $500 million worl...