Anyone who is now or in the past has researched home automation knows that it can be an intimidating subject. There's a lot to learn about and an overwhelming number of options from which to choose. The learning curve is made to seem even steeper thanks to the variety of terms it is marketed under by the companies offering it. Whether a brand pitches their products as a Connected home, intelligent home, digital home, or the Internet of things we want to help you understand that they all are just another name for home automation.
There's no doubting the great potential for controlling devices with the myriad of available options. But, it's still a new concept to most people. Any new product carries a steep learning curve until people have had enough time to familiarize themselves with it. Seemingly the companies offering the new product each have their own take on how best to market the product to customers. They coin their own unique terms and phrases to entice potential buyers interest.
Think of when computers or cellular phones were introduced. There were a lot of terms being used by the different companies selling them. Once the market matured, the litany of terms dwindled to a manageable few. People became accustomed to those terms and understood each of them well enough.
The home automation industry is going through the early stages of the same process. As a result, a wide variety of terms and phrases are being used to describe the same concept of home automation. We've created the infographic below to help you cut through the marketing induced confusion. Regardless of the term being used to describe it, they all stand for the same group of products. Take a close look. We bet you'll find a few that you've come across in your searches.
