"audio" articles

On September 14 th -16 th 2022,Nice North America held its Media Day event at the company headquarters in Carlsbad, California, just outside of San Diego. Nice Group is an Italian-based company, but the recent finalization of its Nortek Control acquisition has expanded the market presence of the Nice North America branch of the company, by providing a more extensive portfolio. In a press release on September 28 th , coinciding with the annual CEDIA Expo, the Deputy CEO...

As adoption of smart home devices continues to grow, the smart home needs an interface to connect all the moving pieces in the home. For devices that are connected to cloud APIs, voice control has been transformational. While the UI experience is compelling, the true value of voice assistants is in their ability to unify control of fragmented and even disparate ecosystems. Consumers with smart home devices that are not part of a larger home control system (which is the majority of smart...

Any time you ask someone about the great things they saw at CES, you need to take their response with a grain (or heaping tablespoon) of salt. The issue is scope. The Consumer Electronics Show is far too big for any one person to get an accurate perspective given all of the keynotes, workshops press events, booths, theaters, and corporate suites to be navigated over a handful of days. For me, I try to sneak away from the suites for a few hours to track down major trends, look into...

Every year, Amazon hosts Prime Day, a one-day event of deals exclusive to Amazon Prime members. On Monday, July 10, Amazon decided to open the floodgates early at 9 pm E.T., extending the typically 24-hour event (held on July 11) to 30 hours. The star of the event this year? The Amazon Echo. Retailed at $180, Amazon Prime promoted the device at $89.99, a whopping 50% off. Other Echo devices were also priced lower—the Dot at $34.99, a 15% cut from $49.99, the Echo Tap at $79.99, a...

Consumers have been relatively quick to embrace voice-based applications, beginning and led by Apple’s Siri. Parks Associates research notes that at the end of 2016, 45% of U.S. smartphone owners reported using a voice-enabled personal assistant through an app or dedicated device. As devices continue to add listening capabilities, voice control will extend throughout the home and in other connected devices as an intrinsic, easy, and natural way to facilitate smart home...

With news that Amazon is officially sold out (online) of Echo and Tap products until after the holidays, it looks like the smart speaker with personal assistant technology category has found its legs. Parks Associates forecasts 6 million U.S. sales for the category in 2016, which would double U.S. sales from 2015. Several trends are driving the smart speaker/personal assistant device market. First, consumer familiarity and use with personal assistant software are one the rise,...

The power of audio was a reoccurring theme at yesterday’s CEDIA session: Growth & Future Outlook for the High-End Audio Market. Consumers’ attachment to music is a key influencer in the audio market. According to Parks Associates research, two-thirds of U.S. broadband households use a streaming audio service. The panelists discussed current trends and the future outlook of the market. The session featured: Brad Russell , Research Analyst, Parks Associates...

That sound you heard was Apple and (perhaps) Google watching as a major market opportunity passes them by. Capitalizing on what amounts to over-the-speed limit momentum, Amazon has brought two new Echos to the market. The Dot, while interesting, is a fun add-on to smart home geeks who want a smaller, sleeker Echo to put by their bedside (and replace the smartphone as an ad-hoc alarm clock) or in the living room alongside the curved-screen TV, wireless multi-speaker setup and...