Business Insider

Any developers building apps for HomeKit have to use the same safety guidelines as the device makers themselves — this means they need clear, overt privacy policies and must follow Apple's guidelines to gain access to data about your home.

Although Internet-connected home appliances aren't widespread yet, adoption is set to take off this year, according to research from Parks Associates. According to the firm, 40% of broadband households in the US are planning to buy a smart ...read more

Amazon's Fire TV set-top box is more popular than Apple TV, according to the latest survey from Parks Associates. Roku, however, is still the king of the digital streaming space.

Parks Associates looked at general media device sales in the United States over the past year, and found that Roku, Google, Amazon, and Apple accounted for 86% of the overall market.

Of those four brands, the firm notes that Roku and Google's Chromecast dominated the market in 2014, accounting f ...read more

For these reasons, interest in connected home devices and uptake is on the rise:

• In the US, nearly two-thirds of households that use broadband internet are interested in a connected-home device bundle from their wireless service providers, according to fourth quarter 2013 survey data from Parks Associates.
• That amounts to roughly 60 million households in the US alone among 91 million total US households with broadband.
• As prices decline over the long run and ...read more

If you're using someone else's Netflix password, you're not alone.

A new report from Parks Associates, a Dallas-based market research firm, found that more than 10% of households in the U.S. that have a broadband connection and watch a subscription streaming service like Netflix or Hulu Plus use an account that someone outside of the house is paying for.

The firm found that 11% of people who use Netflix, 10% who stream Hulu Plus, and 5% who use Amazon Prime Instant Video ...read more

The market for streaming TV is red-hot, but so far has not dented the traditional cable and satellite providers, said Glenn Hower, research analyst at Parks Associates.

Hower said around half of US households with broadband also have a streaming service -- most of them Netflix -- but that the percentage of those with traditional pay TV has remained steady at 85 to 87 percent.

While many young adults are happy with online services such as Netflix, most households are usin ...read more

Roku and Apple dominated the TV streaming market last year, but now Google's Chromecast has pulled ahead of Apple to become a front-runner.

Research firm Parks Associates just released some new data on the most dominant brands when it comes to set-top boxes and streaming sticks (via 9to5Google).

Roku is still in the lead since it made up 29% of streaming set-top box sales in the first three quarters of 2014, but Google's Chromecast came in second with 20% of the market.

That comes out to 40 million Americans, according to Parks Associates. The market research firm forecasts that this number will grow 183% to 113 million, or 43% of smartphone owners, by 2017.
One factor that will likely drive growth is an explosion in payments technologies coming onto the market, which will have broader application beyond payments, including mobile loyalty programs and in-store marketing. These will give a greater number of smartphone users and merchants a rea ...read more

That comes out to 40 million Americans, according to Parks Associates. The market research firm forecasts that this number will grow 183% to 113 million, or 43% of smartphone owners, by 2017.

One factor that will likely drive growth is an explosion in payments technologies coming onto the market, which will have broader application beyond payments, including mobile loyalty programs and in-store marketing. These will give a greater number of smartphone users and merchants a r ...read more