The European home automation market will go towards a positive track in the next 4 years, reaching estimated revenues of €228.7m by 2015 (at a CAGR of 5.1%) according to Frost & Sullivan.
Such growth is thanks to recent advances, most significant of which being the tablet computer's rise. Whereas before vendors needed to dedicate resources and R&D efforts for UI development, today's tablet computers provide an inexpensive touch-based control system via easy-to-develop apps.
Currently tablet-based home control systems have a major impact on the market's luxury segment, and as their prices become cheaper (due to the tablet market's becoming indunated with an endless variety of models) they'll become largely affordable to the market's mid-range segment. Frost & Sullivan says using a tablet as a control interface helps reduce home automation system prices by up to 50%.
Today's customers live increasingly connected lives, and advances in smartphones and tablets will increase opportunities for manufacturers to develop interesting UIs without the need to break the bank.
Also causing price decline is the increasing competition within the home automation market itself, together with economic pressure on manufacturers to reduce profit margins-- thus increasing affordability.
