It’s been science fiction for more than a century: the idea of controlling machines, devices and computers by your voice rather than a keyboard or set of commands. But this year, all indications are that fiction is going to become reality as voice-activated devices move into the mainstream, particularly when it comes to home products like lighting.
In fact the lighting industry, along with temperature control and security devices, stands to be in the vanguard of the voice-activated movement, representing for users an easily identifiable and controllable product that can serve as the starting point for the ultimate goal: the smart home. The Financial Times estimates that the number of smart-home households in the US reached about 22 million in 2017, a huge increase from less than 2 million in 2010. Revenue from smart-home devices, which was barely $5 billion in 2016, will more than double this year according to research in the report and could reach some $35 billion by 2021. Much of that will be centered on voice-activated devices.
The Big Three leading the charge will be a trio of tech giants: Amazon with Alexa, Alphabet (Google) with Assistant and Apple with Siri.
While some individual manufacturers of smart home products -- particularly in the home appliance business where suppliers like LG and General Electric have been particularly aggressive – have developed their own proprietary software and systems, most observers predict voice activation and the entire smart home process will be based on smart phone and central control devices. Amazon’s Echo has been in the forefront of the latter and clearly has an advantage over its competitors.
“There is no doubt in my mind that the Echo has been a major catalyst,” Ben Bajarin of Creative Strategies was recently quoted as saying. “It’s just a question of what other products start to take off and really stick.” And there is likely to be no shortage of those. Nest, which led the thermostat smart home movement, has just introduced its Nest Hello video doorbell which features voice control.
Noon Home is a new start-up that has raised $50 million in funding for its $400 “smart lighting system” that is essentially a high-tech light switch device that uses Alexa for its voice control.
And at shows this month like Lightovation and the Consumer Electronics Show, there will no doubt be many more debuts of voice-controlled devices and products. You heard it here first.