With the Development of Smart Home, How Can Telecom Operators Seize the Market?

If you can't provide unique value, trust will be meaningless

The industry generally believes that security and consumer privacy are the most serious concerns for smart home and consumer Internet of things. Mattel, an American toy company, was criticized for launching an online smart Barbie doll suspected of violating children's privacy. Not long ago, the company launched an AI voice assistant "nanny" device called Aristotle.

However, this concern does not necessarily prevent consumers from buying smart home devices. In terms of product marketing, it does not mean that companies with higher security or more positive attitude towards protecting consumer data will naturally prevail. There are three root causes:

Consumers are not well educated about the dangers of these jobs in the industry. Some consumer Internet of things devices (such as networked toys) may alert consumers. However, the risks from smart bulbs, security cameras, and even AI smart speakers such as Amazon echo and Google home are not obvious. After all, we all carry smart phones with us, which are equipped with speakers, light bulbs and at least one camera. How dangerous are other similar devices?

Consumers are more adventurous than they think. Survey data show that consumers are more and more aware of the value of their data, and people are more and more concerned about how these data will be used. However, this trend is not unique to the smart home industry. Most consumers are well aware of the potential data privacy risks of using social apps such as Facebook and snapchat, but the number of monthly active users of these two apps has reached 2 billion and 173 million respectively, and these numbers are still growing.

Consumers believe that no company can provide 100% protection. Survey data show that some brands are more reliable than others, but news reports show that consumers know that no company can be protected from hackers, and they also know that all companies are to make money. Therefore, although some brands may be more trusted, consumers believe that no company can provide 100% protection. In a study conducted by the British customer service association in 2015, 76% of respondents said that "enterprises can never really protect our data".

In a world with more and more networks and increasingly complex environments, consumers need to be protected. Consumers are excited about emerging Internet of things technologies. In the latest smart life survey, in terms of attitude towards new technologies, the vast majority of respondents said that they were willing to try and adopt new technologies to help them and their families in their daily life, and only a few users expressed concern about trust. Therefore, consumers may try new products without fully understanding the risks they are facing, or underestimate the risks they are facing, because they just want to enjoy the functions that the product can provide.

With the introduction of EU general data protection regulation and other bills, some work is already in progress. Of course, companies like orange in France want to use such regulations as a way to prove to consumers that they are a trustworthy brand. However, to win this competition, telecom operators need to show their credibility and provide unique value at the same time. Only such a combination will enable them to compete with large Internet and consumer electronics manufacturers in the field of smart home.