Smart Home Situation Likely To Get Worse Before It Gets Better

Smart homes also were a key part of the larger IOT (Internet of Things) theme that was prominent throughout CES and at events like Samsung's rather over-the-top keynote on the eve of the show. At the keynote, Samsung attempted to paint a rather glorious picture of how everything, and everyone, was going to be connected thanks to IOT, but they were painfully light on details of how exactly they were going to do it.

Unfortunately, this is exactly the problem with IOT overall and the smart home in particular. Because so many people view it as one of the next big opportunities, lots of big players are making lots of big bets to establish a foothold in the smart home platform wars. Not surprisingly, though, many are looking to do so in a proprietary way. Even companies like Samsung, which made a big deal about pressing for open standards, is really only open to a point. For example, they provide access to a very limited set of features on their smart appliances to outsiders, and only provide complete control if you're using a Samsung device.

Read more: http://seekingalpha.com/article/2817936-smart-home-situation-likely-to-get-worse-before-it-gets-better

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