For Raffi Kajberouni, the keys to his Santa Clarita , Calif.
If he locks himself out, no problem. If a
friend arrives at his two-story house before him, there’s no waiting outside
for Kajberouni to arrive. Kajberouni taps his smartphone and his front door
unlocks.
He can also turn down the thermostat or view his
home security cameras from anywhere in the world.
“A lot of my friends are jealous,” the
31-year-old said. “It’s like the home fromBack to the Future, but in real life.”
From complete smart
home systems to individual Internet-connected products such as high-tech
appliances and power strips, the smart home is no longer a futuristic gimmick.
The technology behind smart gadgets — items that
can be controlled remotely or perform tasks on their own — has been around for
decades, but until recently the devices were rudimentary and, above all,
expensive.
“It had always been an upscale-type business:
Unless you were in the top 5 percent of income levels, you didn’t have access
to this type of connectivity,” said Randy Light, merchant of home automation
for Home Depot.
Wireless Internet and the widespread
proliferation of smartphones are making smart home technologies more
sophisticated — and affordable.
“This used to be something out of The Jetsons or limited to the super-rich,” said
Jonathan Dorsheimer, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity. But as smart home
technology has improved and costs have come down, “it’s becoming more
mainstream.”
Analysts estimate that only a small single-digit
percentage of homeowners have smart homes.
But the home automation systems and services
market is expected to see enormous growth in the coming years and is forecast
to reach $14.7 billion in revenue globally by 2017, up from $3.6 billion last
year, according to NextMarket Insights.
These days, a wide swath of companies are
clamoring to sell smart systems, including home security firms,
telecommunications giants such as AT&T and Verizon, cable providers and
utilities.
That’s expected to help “propel the market from
its fairly modest size today to one which serves more than 35 million
households by 2017,” NextMarket said in its recent report.
The housing recovery could also fuel growth if
owners choose to pull out their rising equity to give their homes high-tech
upgrades.
And as Americans purchase more newly built homes,
they may increasingly find those digs fully integrated with their phones. Some
of the nation’s largest home builders now market tech-equipped houses’
advantages over older homes.
Although new homes are usually more expensive,
builders have emphasized the long-term cost savings owners can reap through
solar panels and the ability to monitor and change their energy usage with
smart devices.
Contact: xixy@wulian.cc
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