Strategy in TECH...
The latest data from market research firm Strategy Analytics shows that Amazon is still the king of the smart speaker market – selling more smart speakers than anyone else. But the data also showed something else rather surprising – Google has substantially closed the gap between it and Amazon, coming within about 5.5% of Amazon’s market share numbers in the all-important fourth quarter selling season.
In a result that was not expected by most industry analysts, contract signings to purchase previously owned homes dropped in December for the third month in a row. The news is widely viewed as yet another indicator of a housing industry slowdown, along with declining affordability and rising housing and mortgage costs.
New data from multiple sources are increasing economists concerns of an economic downturn within the next two years – perhaps even later this year. The latest readings on consumer confidence/sentiment and existing home sales show sharp downturns, sparking new debates on the real health of the economy.
Fully 70% of the U.S. economy is based on consumer spending, so economic and market pros watch moves in consumer sentiment closely…and so do I. In a new poll from research expert Gallup, we find consumer sentiment mixed – curiously so, considering how strong the economy seems to be at the moment.
New research put out by the National Association of Realtors looks at the impact of technology on the real estate market. In particular, the study, called Real Estate in a Digital Age, contemplated how technology has impacted the buying process – and how different generations of buyers use technology when looking for a home.
In what many feel is yet another sign of a brewing economic storm, sales of new single-family homes in October showed a significant drop of 8.9% below the rate of home sales in September, according to new data from the United States Census Bureau. With this result, the inventory of new homes available for sale jumped to 7.4-months, a 14% jump in unsold newly constructed homes.
In what some might view as a startling result, new research from GfK reveals that a majority of consumers (52%) said that they prefer to install their own smart home products. This result is substantially higher than the percentage of consumers who said this (43%) the last time this survey was done in 2015.
You will find more infographics at Statista
Recently, I warned of some troubling housing related news. You may recall that a collapse in the housing sector was a key driver of the last recession in 2007-2009 that was so painful for the custom integration community, and for the country as a whole. In my report – Are You Prepared for the Coming Recession? – I noted a pronounced and troubling turn in several housing industry specific data, perhaps presaging another economic downturn. Now new government data shows that, once again, new residential sales have declined in the month of September.
As more research continues to emerge on consumer utilization of voice-controlled devices, it becomes clear that there are still impediments to end-users utilizing their voice-control capabilities regularly, according to research by Social Lens. A separate study by Nielsen reaffirms what Strata-gee has previously reported, that people use smart speakers more for listening to music, than for any other task…including voice-control of their home automation solutions.
