smarthome controlMany in tech circles have already declared 2015 the year of the connected home, and indeed 13% of U.S. consumers have made a resolution to add a smart home device this year, with millennials four times as likely as baby boomers to take the plunge, according to Peel’s latest survey.
Connected home devices such as smart thermostats, locks and lightbulbs were front-and-center at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month, have been widely touted in the media and are readily available at home stores. Many consumers are still lukewarm when it comes to adopting the technology in their homes, however.
The top reason for not buying a smart home control device, cited by the 1,069 U.S. consumers surveyed last week, was the high cost, followed by their “current devices work just fine” and “don’t see value in the technology.” As might be expected, U.S. consumers in the highest household income bracket ($150K+) were twice as likely as those in the lower brackets to have plans to invest in smart home control in 2015.
A couple of bright spots in the survey were that only 6% of respondents said they thought the devices were “too difficult to install” or that the technology “was not smart enough.”
“This indicates that consumers may be in a ‘wait-and-see’ pattern perhaps looking for prices to come down,” said Peel’s Chief Product Officer and co-founder Bala Krishnan. “The core technology is here, but the industry needs to come to agreement on standards and protocols along with a more palatable entry point for the average consumer.”
Smart thermostats cost in the range of $250, not including installation, and smart light bulbs run $40-$90 per unit.
What devices top smart home tech resolution lists?  Smart thermostats such as the Nest Learning Thermostat had the most expected purchases (7.6%), followed by smart light bulbs  such as the Philips Hue (5.0%), and smart door locks such as August or Kevo locks (4.7%). Less than 4% are looking to buy a smart hub or switch like SmartThings or WeMo.
While millennials were more drawn to the technology than boomers by a ratio of 4:1 (35% vs. 8%) interestingly, there was very little difference in likelihood to purchase among men and women. Suburban homeowners were slightly more likely to move toward smart devices than their urban or rural counterparts.
Peel, which has more than 100 million smart remote users worldwide, is focused on controlling entertainment devices such as TVs, DVD players, sound systems and streaming devices such as Apple TV and Roku. Recently, however, the company has found that more consumers are asking for its universal remote capabilities to expand to include other appliances, including air conditioners and ceiling fans, along with smart home devices.
“We are seeing a demand for our app to control smart devices around the globe, starting in places like China and India, where many consumers have a variety of appliances controlled by remotes,” added Krishnan. “But as smart home devices begin to proliferate in developed countries, a lot of our customers are looking for a unified control experience.”
Peel conducted the survey the week of  January 9, 2015 with 1,069 respondents.