VOICE-FIRST DEVICES MARKET

VoiceLabs forecasts that 24.5 million of these “voice-first devices” will ship in 2017. This includes the Echo and Google Home, but also competing devices that haven't yet been released. Microsoft plans to launch a device, and BI Intelligence predicts that Apple and Samsung will also do so at some point this year. As the most mature device, the Echo line will likely comprise the largest share of these devices, but as more companies release competitors, it'll be critical to see if they'll be able to eat into Amazon’s market share.

Source:

http://www.businessinsider.com/voice-assistants-novelty-2017-1?IR=T

Smart Home Market - Corporates Compete

Apple may fall behind Google and Amazon due to its heavy reliance on iPhone sales to monetize the smart home. As previously noted, Apple is only one of the three companies listed above to rely on hardware to drive revenue in the smart home space. Amazon and Google will continue to be able to monetize the smart home even if the sales of their hardware decline, which is especially relevant given the recent trend of iPhone sales stagnation. But with a new tenth-anniversary iPhone on the horizon this year, the company might be able to overcome this at least temporarily. Further, despite that the company might not be able to get more people to buy iPhones and set up HomeKit, it still has a massive iPhone user base that works to its advantage.

Source:

http://www.businessinsider.com/tech-giants-take-on-each-other-in-the-smart-home-2017-1?IR=T&utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BII%20Daily%20%282017.30.1%29&utm_term=BI%20Intelligence%20Daily%20-%20Engaged%2C%20Active%2C%20Passive%2C%20Disengaged