Telcos Lead in Smart Home Mind Share

According to IMS Research, consumers in major global economies prefer to buy smart home services from their familiar telephony providers. The survey analyzed the attitudes and expectations of 2,500 respondents, with 500 each from the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany and China.Respondents were asked to pick the entities from which they would prefer to buy smart home services. Participants were allowed to choose more than one provider. Telephone companies received the largest number of picks from the respondents. The finding serves as an early indicator of consumer preferences as different businesses battle for a piece of the smart home business.When asked why they picked the telephone companies, the largest portion of respondents cited familiarity as their main reason. Almost half of respondents, 46%, said they selected telephony providers primarily because they are most familiar with them. In contrast, security providers and specialist home automation manufacturers were primarily selected because respondents considered them to be the most trustworthy.