Jon Carter is UK Head of Business Development for the Connected Home at Germany telco, Deutsche Telekom.
Speaking at IFSEC International in London today, he conceded that the European smart home market remains small, with growth having flatlined for the last decade.
But he predicts that the Internet of Things (IoT), set to see 500 connected devices per household by 2022 according to research firm Gartner, will finally kick start growth spearheaded by consumer demand for managed security services.
“If you think the value is around proprietary technology, control of PIRs, motion sensors and networks, think again,” said Carter. “That will all go to third parties, it will be standardised and the lowest cost manufacturer will take all the value.”
Monitored security services currently have 26% penetration in the US, but it is the telcos and specialist online service providers who have cleaned up.
If any one company is likely to succeed in the supply of similar services in Europe, it is Amazon using a combination of Echo, Prime, extensive relationships with manufacturers, suppliers and software developers and an excellent reputation around customer service.
“There is not an industry player that can even start to replicate the same level of innovation [as Amazon],” said Carter. “It can capture more and more data as connected products feed back to the core data warehouse through Echo to better understand the customers needs and offer products which are relevant to them.”
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