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Inside your home, today's luxury is tomorrow's necessity
GRAEME PHILIPSON
August 8, 2006
Sydney Morning Herald
Low prices, coming to a home theatre near you.
LAST month I attended an exhibition on the Gold Coast run by the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association, the industry body for people who install home theatres and home automation.
This year the event doubled in size, with nearly 100 stands representing 350 companies, and 3000 visitors. Exhibitors showed the latest plasma screens and wireless networking products, structured cabling and smart wiring, media centres and home theatres.
Such shows are quite common now, but the key thing about CEDIA is that it is a trade exhibition. Delegates are CEDIA members and other installers - the public is not invited.
That meant there was more focus on sharing information and looking at the business of installing equipment. Since it was founded in the US in 1989 and in Australia in 1994, CEDIA's main business has been putting top equipment into homes of the wealthy.
That has changed significantly in the past few years. The price of large TV screens and networking equipment and home automation has fallen, and companies such as Harvey Norman and Domayne are entering the market. The products, and the services, are becoming commodities.
This was difficult for some CEDIA members. In the past they were able to rely on specialist knowledge and high margins. Now more people are moving into the area and lower prices mean lower margins.
I was at CEDIA to present the findings of a survey of 3320 households run by my market research company. The study found that home automation is starting to take off , with 10 per cent of Australian homes intending to install some aspect of it in the next 12 months.
Among new home builders, the figure goes up to almost half. A similar number plan a dedicated room for a home cinema in their next house. If you look at the house plans for the current generation of McMansions, you'll see that they invariably have a media centre or home theatre room on the plans, replacing the study or formal dining room.
Our research found that many people believe they can install this equipment themselves, like setting up a hi-fi system or a computer. The reality is very different - the equipment is still not user-friendly, and we are a long way from the sort of integration or convergence that many predict.
Andy Willcox, head of CEDIA in the US, told the conference that increased commodification meant challenges for association members. An important role remains for specialist installers, but they need to change to deal with more jobs on lower margins, he said.
CEDIA is introducing a new conference in the US specifically for interior designers, architects and builders, to help them understand the vagaries of home automation and networked entertainment.
As this sort of technology becomes common, it will be introduced earlier in the design phase. Installers have often found that they have had to battle with the builder or the architect, who often don't appreciate the demands of the technology.
The industry has moved ahead considerably in the past 12 months and the customer has learnt more about the products and the technology. Publicity about products such as Clipsal's C-Bus home automation system, Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Media Centre, and Intel's new Viiv platform are all doing their part to increase awareness and market adoption.
It is still difficult for the consumer who wants a truly integrated system - entertainment, computing, home automation. They are still separate technologies, from different vendors who still talk in different languages. But things are improving.
One of the most encouraging signs at the conference was the number of suppliers offering integrated packages. Australian company Digital Homeware has developed a system that combines home automation with home entertainment.
iQhome is selling an entry-level system with an Intel Viiv Media Centre, a big-screen LCD, C-Bus wireless smart lighting and a home security system for $10,000. That's the dealer price, but it shows just what is happening.
That is the sort of price that brings the integrated home, or the digital home, or the smart home, or the connected home, into everyday use. In our survey we asked people how important smart lighting and intelligent access control and automated control of shutters and blinds were to them.
Most people said these technologies were not important. But they were the people who had never used the technology. In a separate study earlier this year for a supplier, we found that people who use this technology say they can't live without it.
As one said: "If you'd asked me 20 years ago if I wanted electric windows and air-conditioning in my car, I'd have said no. Nowadays we all have it."
Too true. Yesterday's luxury is tomorrow's necessity. So it will prove with home automation. The revolution is just beginning.
graeme@philipson.info
Date
Tuesday 08 Aug 2006
