The company is still “number one,” said Elizabeth Parks, president of market research firm Parks Associates in Dallas. But it’s a shaky number one. Parks estimates that iRobot had nearly two-thirds of the robot vacuum market in 2018, but now holds only a 48 percent share. Meanwhile, rival robot makers like SharkNinja, Roborock, Eufy, and Ecovacs have been steadily chipping away.
One possible reason, according to Parks, is concern about data privacy. More advanced versions of the Roomba and other robots use visual sensors to generate detailed maps of the user’s home. This information is shared with the manufacturers to develop more advanced products, but it could also potentially be used to monitor users.
From the article, "IRobot faces a murky future amid rising Roomba competitors" by Hiawatha Bray
Household brands like Whirlpool, Samsung and Bosch are racing against tech behemoths like Google and Amazon to dominate the kitchen with internet-connected appliances and cooking gadgets that include...
Amazon illustrated its potential entrance into the security space with its recent acquisition of the popular video doorbell manufacturer, Ring. Ring’s reported $1 billion valuation goes beyond its har...
Indicating the continued adoption of smart home products, Parks Associates’ Home Security: Channel Insights reports 75% of home security installations in 2017 included smart control features. In ad...
It’s taken a little while, relatively speaking, but smart speaker ownership finally appears to be taking off. According to the latest report released today by Parks Associates, ownership of smart spea...
