US consumers' needs to boost IoT products: Most want app-controlled locks, doors, lightning

Some 60 percent of Americans think it would be “cool” to have an app that controls locks and doors, followed by lighting (51 percent), heating and cooling (49 percent), and a surveillance or security camera (42 percent), according to a survey by Honeywell.

Americans, on average, believe that nearly half (44 percent) of all of the items in their homes will be connected by 2025. This is more than triple the number of connections Americans estimate are in their homes today (14 percent), the study shows.

U.S. consumers also rank smart home technology as more useful than other “connected” innovations: 73 percent would take a connected home over a driverless vehicle, and 63 percent think an app that connects their home is more useful than one that tracks their physical activity, respondents say.

Yet, while nearly 90 percent of Americans want to automate their homes, 66 percent say cost is holding them from adding more connected features into their homes.

More than 42 percent of Americans wish they could control their lights and make sure their homes are secured when they are not home, second only to pet owners who would like to feed their pets (48 percent) while away. Programming a DVR came in at 26 percent. Some 31 percent would prefer an app that can control their home devices to be voice activated rather than with a touchscreen.

Locking the doors tops the list of things worrying Americans as they head for vacation (39 percent), followed closely by packing essentials like toothbrushes, underwear and mobile phone chargers (36 percent). Thirty-four percent of consumers with a security system are unsure if they remembered to turn it on before leaving for vacation. Forgetting to unplug fire hazards is a more common concern among women than men (30 percent versus 24 percent).

The 2015 Accenture Digital Consumer Survey also shows that nearly half of consumers will own a connected IoT device by 2020, with strongest demand for home cameras and security, smartwatches and fitness devices. As a result, the volume of data traffic across the network is set to explode. Devices such as Bitdefender BOX are designed to scan home networks with connected devices and provide real-time information.

The Honeywell Home Connectivity Survey was conducted between July 20-27, 2015 with around 1,031 nationally representative Americans, aged 18 years and over.