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
“The unlimited data mobile wars have been going for awhile … as T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon encourage people to (buy) the highest tier of mobile services,” said Brett Sappington, who studies both tradi...
Professional monitoring service providers offering only basic security systems suffer from a poor net promoter score (NPS), while those offering interactive security and smart home systems score more...
It’s been bandied about for 30 years — just about as long as I’ve been in this industry — but it’s still a hot topic and I have yet to see a solid solution. Interoperability is a key issue that keeps...
Price increases come in bunches, said Brett Sappington, a pay TV expert who follows traditional and Internet providers for the research outfit Parks Associates. “The fact that they're all doing pri...
