Why is the progress of whole-house intelligence still slow in 2021?

Entering the digital era, both the implementation of autonomous driving and the iteration of AI technology have made qualitative leaps, and many applications have been implemented in combination with the industry, such as unmanned factories, robotaxis, and unmanned mining trucks. Of course, the most fundamental thing is cost reduction. We have also experienced the convenience of the intelligent era in the deep coupling between these technologies and industries. The whole-house smart home, which is closest to the user experience, has undergone major changes in both consumer use and industrial ecology.

Especially under the catalysis of the epidemic, the market's attitude towards smart home has undergone a major change. According to a market research agency report, after experiencing home isolation, 76% of the respondents have higher requirements for the quality of family life and will consider purchasing more smart home products.

After so many years of development of smart home, what has become of the whole house intelligence now? Is it accepted by people?

More waiting and watching, less customization

In 2011, Nest Lab, a Silicon Valley star startup project, launched the first Nest Thermostat temperature controller, which opened the curtain of the smart home industry with this touchpoint of smart home products. The embryonic stage of whole-house intelligence began around 2012. At that time, the concept of the Internet of Things and interconnection began to emerge. Early smart products such as smart switches, smart sockets, and smart curtains had simple functions. The control of smart devices, information exchange between devices, consumer services and other functions began to be organically combined with the residential environment. Until 2020, with the comprehensive development of AI technology and Internet of Things technology, smart homes are no longer limited to simple remote control, but begin to connect and interact, bringing users some smart experiences.

In smart home experience stores in many cities, we can feel that the whole house intelligence frees hands and brings users the joy of easy life. The smart home we have seen in the video scenes described by manufacturers has been realized. The experience of whole house intelligence is that after returning home, you start to enter the smart life before opening the door: after the smart door lock is opened, the entrance light lights up, the curtains in the living room slowly open, the water dispenser starts to heat water, the sweeping robot returns to the charging base, and the voice assistant reminds you that the hot water in the bathtub has been put in, and the music you are interested in has been matched for you...

What is inconsistent with reality is that although the experience has been upgraded, the response of the whole-house smart home in the consumer market is still relatively flat and has not made a big splash. Compared with the bare reality, the data in the survey report is still somewhat disconnected. The actual demand of consumers for customized whole-house smart home has not been released by the upgraded experience. The main reasons are:

1. Insufficient market education. Most of those who understand and experience whole-house intelligence are young people with higher education and better education. These young people have just entered the society, but their purchasing power is limited. The middle-aged and elderly people with financial resources have limited channels to access smart products. Whole-house intelligence experience stores are mostly located in first-, second-, and third-tier cities, and the number of people they reach is relatively limited.

2. The whole-house smart experience is good, but the customization of the whole-house smart also means the fixed home experience. Smart technology and scenarios have been iterating and updating, and the customized whole-house smart system is relatively closed. It is difficult to introduce new smart products and subsequent other systems. Whether to replace or keep the previous smart home equipment, it is troublesome.

3. The personalized and integrated smart experience is limited. The existing whole-house smart customization is basically based on home equipment products provided by manufacturers. Some smart products or other devices that users like cannot be connected due to limitations such as communication protocols, and there is a fragmented experience across brands and some interactions.

4. Looking ahead under high costs, good experiences are not cheap. It is reported that Mi fans previously spent 690,000 yuan to purchase a complete set of Xiaomi smart home hardware for the entire house. This is still too expensive for most people.

In the smart home industry, everyone has a consensus: industry giants work together to formulate a set of standards or launch a public system, otherwise the construction of a whole house or smart home will always be a paper talk, and the scenes depicted are a pile of useless single products. The actual situation is that the giants are willing to take the lead, but they also carve out a territory for themselves, and the small businesses in the ecosystem choose their own hills. The market divided by the giants is still mainly a situation where each of them is the king of the forest and the mountain is closed.

New changes in whole-house intelligence

At present, the most obvious phenomenon of each ecological giant occupying its own territory is the competition for the entrance route of the whole-house smart center. We know that the most common entrances to the whole-house intelligence are voice assistants, smart speakers or mobile phone apps, and the different entrances mean that users need to adapt to and learn different devices. The habits cultivated on one center will also limit the user's interaction method.

Manufacturers began to split and fight for traffic at the entrance. Seizing the entrance means seizing the initiative. The victory of a single product means that it can drive the growth of peripheral hardware through deep binding with users. For example, the entry of smart TVs and smart speakers directly improves the intelligent transformation of other low-frequency products in home scenarios.

One of the biggest changes in the whole house intelligence this year is the introduction of a central control screen in the house, and it is not just one central control screen. Different screens are introduced in different spaces to meet the needs of interaction between various devices in different spaces. This multi-central control screen device initiative unifies the device interaction in the exclusive space. All smart items, systems, and scenes in this space can interact on this central control screen, which is more concise and clear.

The second change that is different from the industry is that the whole house intelligence has introduced the PLC network. The integration of PLC gets rid of the rigid conditions of the smart home for the network and solves the problem of the gateway disconnecting and constantly connecting. All the hardware or systems in the home are connected through the two networks of Wi-Fi6 and PLC. After that, users can freely add various systems according to their needs, and because the line network is laid out in advance, users do not need to consider issues such as line layout when they need to install the corresponding modules.

Whether it is the change of the network or the entrance center, we found that these changes have enriched the experience of the whole house smart ecosystem, but the fundamental standards and communication protocols are still separated. Although the equipment and network technology in the whole house intelligence have been improved and popularized, it cannot solve the interest cycle chain of the closed ecosystem, but can only accelerate the entry of small home furnishing manufacturers. In addition to the difficulty of reconciling interests, unified standards will also face specific difficulties in implementation, that is, the difference in iteration cycles of different products.

We know that there are many categories of smart home products, and the speed of updating and replacing each product is different. It is impossible to reinstall the whole house while the standards are iterating. For example, the technology of smart speakers is often iterated every few months, but the manufacturers of bulbs, home appliances and other products that are compatible with them do not have such iteration support efficiency. Many traditional manufacturing companies may not have the corresponding development capabilities. These will lead to the easy discontinuation of unified ecological protocols, and eventually return to the situation where multiple protocols coexist. The unification of ecological protocols is a long way to go.

Empowering future home spaces

For the whole-house smart industry, the smart home market is full of rich mines. Recently, IDC released the "China Smart Home Device Market Quarterly Tracking Report (2021Q2)". Data shows that the total shipments of China's smart home device market in 2021 were about 100 million units, and the annual shipments in 2021 are expected to be 230 million units, a year-on-year increase of 14.6%. It is estimated that in the next five years, the compound growth rate of shipments in China's smart home device market will be 21.4%, and the total shipments of smart homes will be close to 540 million units in 2025. Whole-house smart solutions will become an important driver of market growth. Countless creators are surging in this trillion-dollar market.

For users, the core demand is that the whole house intelligence has a relatively strong intelligent experience, systematic linkage, cross-brand interaction, good interaction, etc. At the same time, the whole house intelligence must have a natural and integrated overall sense. These demands have put forward high requirements for the whole house intelligence technology, network, application, equipment, etc., and the development of the whole house intelligence has the following trends: