You can download the paper by clicking on the logo below:

Table Of Contents

• Executive Summary
• What Is HP+ And Its Mission?
• Defining A Smart Printer
• Smart Ink Subscription Removes Guesswork And Mitigates Cost Concerns
• HP Smart App Offers Complete Functionality
• Sustainability: A Key Component Of HP+
• A Retailer Perspective: Staples U.S. Retail
• Conclusions And Closing Comments
• Figure 1: 2030 Sustainability Impact Vision
• Figure 2: HP’s Sustainability Tenets
• Figure 3: Industry Acknowledgement For HP’s Sustainability Commitment

Companies Cited:

• Apple
• Dell
• Google
• HP
• Lenovo
• Staples

The post RESEARCH PAPER: Reinvention: HP’s Second Nature appeared first on Moor Insights & Strategy.

You can download the paper by clicking on the logo below:

Table Of Contents:

• Executive Summary
• Scoping And Defining The Threat
• Secure Firmware: An Effective Cybersecurity Approach For Printers
• Consumables
• The Printer
• Implications And Conclusions
• Figure 1: The PewDiePie Message
• Figure 2: Firmware Location On HP Toner Cartridge

Companies Cited:

• HP
• National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC)
• Ponemon Institute
• Samsung
• ZDNet

The post RESEARCH PAPER: Is Your Printer The New Trojan horse? appeared first on Moor Insights & Strategy.

You can download the paper by clicking on the logo below:

Table Of Contents

• Executive Summary
• Strong Market Growth But Little Differentiation
• Rayvolt’s Origins
• The Rayvolt Product Lineup: Swagger On Steroids
• Cutting-Edge Technology
• Go-To-Market Strategy
• Closing Thoughts
• Figure 1: Rayvolt Product Line
• Figure 2: Rayvolt Mounted Smartphone Holder With Electronic Intelligent Vehicle Assistant (EVIA) Application
• Figure 3: Rayvolt X One (With Embedded Battery Compartment)
• Figure 4: Rayvolt X One (With Embedded Smartphone Compartment)
• Figure 5: Demo To Your Door Rendering
• Figure 6: Yego Scooter Company Logo
• Figure 7: E-Motorcycle Concept From Rayvolt

Companies Cited

• Alienware
• Apple
• Ford
• Google
• Indiegogo
• Kickstarter
• Rayvolt
• Tesla
• Trident Sports
• Yego

The post RESEARCH PAPER: Rayvolt Poised To Leverage E-Bike Market Growth With 21st-Century Technologies appeared first on Moor Insights & Strategy.

• The work habits of today’s smart home users
• The number (and types) of devices used in today’s smart home
• The average broadband speeds utilized in today’s smart home
• The factors inhibiting growth of smart home/IoT devices
• Consumer sensitivity about security, privacy, and parental controls
• Consumer trust in the typical sources of their security, privacy, and parental controlsolutions
• The price elasticity of generic security, privacy, and parental control solutions

You can download the paper by clicking on the logo below:

Table Of Contents:

• Executive Summary
• Survey Background, Methodology, And Demographic Considerations
• Security And Privacy Challenges In Today’s Smart Home
• What Concerns Customers The Most?
• Interest-Level Findings
• Pricing Sensitivity Rules
• Consumer Trust Perceptions Of Companies Who Provide Security And Privacy Solutions
• Conclusions And Closing Comments
• Figure 1: Location Of Survey Respondents
• Figure 2: Victims Of Virus Or Malware Attacks Or Knowing Friends Or Family Who Were Victims
• Figure 3: Concerns About Online Experience For Children/Grandchildren
• Figure 4: Interest In A Mobile App That Filters Content
• Figure 5: Interest In A Mobile App To Limit Application Access
• Figure 6: Pricing Sensitivity For Security, Content Filtering, And Application Limitations

Companies Cited

• Calix
• DirecTV
• Disney
• Facebook
• Netflix
• SurveyMonkey
• Twitter
• YouTube

The post RESEARCH PAPER: Security And Privacy Controls: An Unequivocal Requirement In Today’s Smart Home appeared first on Moor Insights & Strategy.

You can download the paper by clicking on the logo below:

Table Of Contents

• Executive Summary
• Problem Statement: The Smart Home Isn’t So Smart
• Resideo’s Go-To-Market Approach
• Closing Thoughts
• Figure 1: Resideo’s Focus Smart Home Areas
• Figure 2: Customer Benefits Of Resideo’s Focus Areas
• Figure 3: Examples Of Resideo Hardware Solutions
• Figure 4: Smart Home Brands Supported By Resideo

Companies Cited

• ADI Global Distribution
• Amazon
• Apple
• Google
• Honeywell
• Microsoft
• Resideo
• Strategy Analytics
• Wall Street Journal

The post RESEARCH PAPER: Resideo Bets On The “Genuine” Smart Home appeared first on Moor Insights & Strategy.

AirPods Pro sets the bar for earbud-style headphones

Even before I opened the box, my expectations were quite high for the AirPods Pro given their elevated price tag of $249 ($50 more than the standard second generation AirPods). For my go-to headphones, I typically go for the traditional over-the-ear design (like the superb new Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700). However, the original Airpods won me over with their compact form factor and overall convenience—ideally suited for short walks, runs, or other exercise-related activities. Still, since active noise cancellation is such an important feature for me, the original AirPods always played second fiddle to the Carnegie Hall-like sound quality of my trusty Bose headphones.

Having now used the new AirPods Pro for the past several days, I’m glad to report that it’s highly likely they will become my day-in and day-out headphone solution. First of all, I’m one of those folks who could only use the original or second-generation AirPods for an hour at a time before feeling like they might fall out of my ears—especially if I am vigorously exercising or dashing across a street. The AirPods Pro now comes with sweat-proof small, medium and large ear tips, which effectively solves that problem. I found removing and reapplying the ear tips to be effortless. My guess is that most consumers who are not crazy about earbuds will find the new design to be quite appealing. Kudos to Apple for pricing replacement tips for just $4 (for a pair of three); a surprisingly un-Apple-like move, given the company’s tendency to apply premium pricing to just about any accessory.

The real closer for me, though, is the improved sound quality of the new AirPods Pro. The first thing I noticed is that the sound quality of the AirPods Pro is more vibrant with more bass—presumably due to a combination of the device’s noise-isolating design and finely tuned drivers. Whereas the standard AirPods have reasonably good sound, they don’t perform particularly well in outside or noisy environments. Overall, the active noise cancellation of the AirPods Pro is quite effective (I would say nearly on par with the Bose 700s), quite an accomplishment for the earbuds form factor.

Also, consumers who like using earbuds to make calls will be delighted with the AirPods Pro. The new AirPods have three microphones on each bud (including one that is beamforming to pick up your voice). Additionally, they feature a vent system that is designed to reduce the pressure that tends to build up in your ear, an approach that should mitigate wind noise as well. I found the microphone quality so good that I used them for a Skype-based podcast that I participated in, and the resulting audio quality was impressive. 

The AirPods Pro has all the delightful features that consumers have come to expect from Apple: effortless pairing, a charging case (with wireless charging support) and the ability to find lost earbuds using the “Find My AirPods” feature in iOS 13. The only issue I can reasonably bring some attention to is battery life: like all earbuds that have a very compact form factor, the AirPods Pro has a rated battery life of 4.5 hours (with noise cancellation turned on). That’s sufficient for many consumers, as a fully charged case can extend the battery life for a full 24 hours (even a 15-minute charge will get 3 hours of power). Still, for long-distance flights, you can’t beat the battery life of over-the-hear headphones, which have larger batteries that can last as long as 20 hours on a single charge.

The bottom line is that Apple has a real winner with the new AirPods Pro. Even with its premium price of $249, It will undoubtedly be one of the hottest gifts this holiday season. I suspect they may even sell out like the original AirPods from a couple of years ago. Get a pair while you can.

For All Mankind: the signature streaming show on Apple TV+

While I’m not a professional entertainment critic, I would be remiss if I didn’t provide any commentary on For All Mankind, one of several new multi-episode series that Apple developed for its new Apple TV+ streaming service. I haven’t had time to watch any of the other series, but if they’re anything remotely like For All Mankind, Apple will need a special room at its new headquarters in Sunnyvale to store its Emmy Awards. 

Painstakingly and meticulously produced with a fine screenplay by famed sci-fi writer Ronald D. Moore, For All Mankind postulates what might have happened if the Russians had beaten the United States to the moon in 1969. The series is well-conceived and executed. Alternative history programs like For All Mankindare not new—Amazon’s Man In The High Castle premiered in 2015 and is very good, if not a bit over-the-top. For All Mankind strikes just the right balance with a very plausible “what if” scenario. The show is sprinkled with interesting events that could have changed the course of history, and not just with the space program. My personal favorite: Ted Kennedy cancels his fateful trip to Chappaquiddick to attend the Apollo 11 launch after the Russians arrived first on the moon (with the implication that he could run and presumably beat Richard Nixon in 1972).

With outstanding special effects and exceptional acting by its entire ensemble cast, For All Mankind easily justifies the $4.99 monthly pricing for the entire Apple TV+ library of programs. While it’s the only Apple-developed program I’ve watched thus far, the critical buzz on several of the other programs (such as Morning Show and Dickinson) is strong. For All Mankind is a show that the whole family can enjoy and learn from, and it’s a great sign of what’s to come with other programs developed under the Apple moniker. I can’t wait to see the remaining seven episodes, one of which will premiere every Friday for the next 45 days.

Apple continues to be on a roll

Apple has a lot to be proud of as 2019 comes to an end. It recently announced astonishingly strong financial results, and its pivot to services and wearable devices has been incredibly well-executed in spite of the slowdown in iPhone sales. With companies (including its most fierce rivals, Samsung and Google) attempting to emulate its business model, especially in the video streaming services and wearables category, Apple shows absolutely no signs of taking its foot off the gas pedal. It will be incredibly exciting to watch Apple fine-tune its strategy as it enters 2020. While services and wearables will continue to be primary focuses for the company, the big question is what new product categories it might enter. Apple plays it very close to the vest when it comes to discussing new product categories. Still, I suspect 2020 will be the year when it expands its offerings in the wearables space. Additionally, I expect it to introduce new AI and VR functionality to its iPhone portfolio, which should keep the Apple ecosystem at the bleeding edge. Good things are ahead for the company—it’s no time to look in the rearview mirror.

The post Apple Hits Home Runs With New AirPods Pro And Apple TV+ Service appeared first on Moor Insights & Strategy.

Google’s announcement last week that it would acquire Fitbit for $2.1 billion was not particularly surprising for many observers who follow the smart home, wearable and IoT category. After all, Google has demonstrated on several occasions that it was willing to “buy” itself into the hardware business. It acquired Nest Labs in 2014 for $3.2 billion with the strategic desire to leverage Nest’s know-how in the smart home space. This ultimately led to products including smart speakers, smart displays, streaming devices, thermostats (the original Nest smart home device), security systems and smart doorbells under the Google Nest brand.

It’s all about the OS

Not surprisingly, the acquisition announcement immediately ignited substantial privacy concerns in the media due to Google’s overwhelming position as the dominant online advertising player. These are not new concerns. Nest reactedto these same concerns in 2015 by committing that its products would never share data with other Google business units unless customers “opt-in” and permit it to do so.

Patrick Moorhead, Principal Analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, and I are in full agreement that privacy considerations in the wearables space are the single toughest barrier that Google will have to overcome for the Fitbit acquisition to be successful. Google isn’t alone in facing these types of privacy concerns with consumers, but its position in search and online advertising makes it particularly vulnerable. On the other hand, Apple has been able to address these privacy concerns deftly, and consumers have rewarded the company with a record $6.52 billion in “accessories” revenue performance (which includes wearables) in its most recently reported quarter.

Google acquisition should unleash Fitbit’s potential

Privacy considerations aside, Google’s purchase of Fitbit should allow it to push the envelope in wearables design. The Fitbit product teams will now have access to more development resources and a fundamentally more capable OS platform. It’s something that’s badly needed at Google since success in the wearables category has largely eluded the company. Recall that Google has invested five years working on the category—Android Wear was announced in 2014, a full year before the first Apple Watch was announced. The cynic in me wonders if the deal is purely a scheme to get Google Assistant on a wearable device that is worn every day by millions of users. The hopeful side of me believes that this acquisition will inject some badly needed fuel into Fitbit (whose revenue has stayed stubbornly flat in the $1.4-$1.5 billion range over the past three years), which will allow it to invest, innovate and expand its product line. As is the story of all acquisitions, only time will tell.    

The post Success Of Google’s Fitbit Acquisition Hinges On Its Ability To Counter Privacy Concerns appeared first on Moor Insights & Strategy.

While it’s impressive that 100 million TVs already support Tizen, the move to offer Tizen to third-party TV manufacturers is clearly an attempt to slow the flow of TV manufacturers like Hisense and TCL from embracing Roku TV and Android TV as their embedded smart operating system platform. Additionally, this announcement is likely to increase Bixby’s customer base, a crucial goal for the South Korean consumer electronics giant.

Not unlike Apple , with its TV+ service announced earlier in the year, streaming TV is now a central element in Samsung’s overall consumer entertainment products and smart home strategy. Samsung believes Tizen will grow in its appeal to TV manufacturers since its Samsung TV Plus platform offers free content (including over 70 live TV channels) that can be integrated with Over-The-Top (OTT) cable providers. It should be noted that the Tizen platform can already stream content from hundreds of popular apps, including Apple’s eagerly-awaited new original content service.

Samsung TV Plus is the company’s free, ad-supported TV service. It supports over 70 channels with live news, sports and entertainment programming. Samsung pre-installs it on all of its smart TVs (since 2016) and offers a frictionless experience that allows consumers to watch content for free instantly. To stoke the creation of new (especially 4K and 8K) content, Kim emphasized that Samsung is prepared to assist developers with marketing and monetization support. The developer community will be particularly impressed with the new SDKs announced at SDC 2019 that allow content developers to facilitate the distribution and management of ads. In a nod to the privacy concerns many consumers have with viewing ad-supported video, Samsung thankfully announced a tool dubbed TIFA (Tizen Identifier for Advertising). The company says this will give consumers the option to limit tracking or opt-out of targeted advertising.

During his presentation, Sang highlighted that Samsung ultimately believes consumers will prefer 8K content once they are exposed to it frequently.  To that end, Samsung announced it was developing new AI upscaling technology that uses machine learning to seamlessly upscale content to 8K regardless of its original resolution and, most importantly, bandwidth limitations.  As bandwidth limitations are the biggest roadblock to streaming 8K content to the typical home, this last announcement has the potential to be genuinely disruptive. It would be a significant differentiator for Samsung’s TV business.

The final verdict on SDC 2019

While Tuesday’s event was about much more than the streaming-related announcements detailed above, it’s clear that Samsung recognizes that “video content” is king. Further, it understands that its legacy businesses in the smartphone, television and other consumer electronics areas will only stay relevant (and prosper) if the company can successfully expand its video services capabilities. After all, Apple was able to make this pivot. Samsung knows that it must emulate Apple’s strategy, particularly since the smartphone market has slowed down.

While one might argue that Samsung is playing catch up to Apple in some of the areas mentioned above (particularly in the original streaming content space), the vastness of Samsung’s resources and the size of its core TV business should allow the company to execute on its streaming TV plans. Tizen is a highly credible alternative to Roku and Android TV, and Samsung is being smart about putting the tools in place for developers to accelerate the development of new high-resolution content as well as helping TV manufacturers monetize advertising without significant heavy lifting. If nothing else, today’s announcements at SDC 2019 prove that Samsung is more than willing and capable of flexing its muscles in the streaming TV space. It would be unwise to bet against them.

The post Samsung Hits The Accelerator On Streaming Content At SDC 2019 appeared first on Moor Insights & Strategy.

While people like to talk about electric and autonomous automobiles, another real battle in the transportation category is occurring in the e-bikes market. It’s for good reason: according to Mondor Intelligence, the global e-bike market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.39% between 2019 and 2024. In U.S. dollar terms, Mondor estimates that global revenue will jump from $14.8 billion in 2018 to nearly $21.4 billion in 2024. These are serious numbers that have caused a “gold rush” of sorts between dozens of players, including some legacy bike brands and many new startups.

This growth is propelled by battery technology advances that allow many e-bikes to travel more than 50 miles on a single charge, higher global fuel prices, and the fact that there are more brands with reasonably priced models to choose from than ever before. In addition to this, e-bikes are becoming more popular with transportation sharing service companies (like Lime) as a safer and more mainstream alternative to scooters.

Unfortunately, one of the consequences of this e-bike “gold rush” is that the market is flooded with many “me too” e-bikes that offer little in the way of feature differentiation, innovation, and style. In particular, many of the e-bikes from startup companies look depressingly utilitarian and industrial and do not inspire the average consumer the way automobiles have over the past century. Rayvolt is one of the few breakout companies in the e-bike category that distinguishes itself from the scores of other players. This week, the company kicked off an impressive new model called the X One via an Indiegogo campaign.

X One: an e-bike fit for George Jetson

I enthusiastically wrote about Rayvolt earlier in the year after attending its “coming out party” reseller event in Barcelona. I was immediately impressed with Mathieu Rauzier, Rayvolt’s founder, who spoke extensively about his vision to create a one-of-a-kind e-bike by concentrating on stylish industrial design, use of premium materials and technology innovation (extending to mobile app integration). As I wrote back then (and it remains true today), swagger is unquestionably the word that one would use when describing a Rayvolt e-bike.

With Rayvolt’s X One announcement, the company chose to make some heavy bets on raising the technology bar in the e-bike category. Described by Rayvolt as the first of a new generation of modern electric bikes being developed under the Rayvolt brand umbrella, there’s several striking technologies that have the potential to disrupt the e-bike category. Let’s take a closer look.

Overall design

The X One features an all-new aluminum composite frame paired with a carbon fiber fork, which allows it to deliver comprehensive e-bike functionality at only 48 bounds. Ingeniously, the X One includes a fully integrated 42 volt (16Ah) battery in the bike’s frame, adding remarkable structural rigidity without adding superfluous mass to the overall “flow” of the X One’s structure. What’s more, the X One promises to offer the first backpedal proportional regeneration system that permits riders to simply pedal backward to slow its pace. The X One also includes an integrated gyro sensor that intuitively engages regeneration when riding downhill. While the X One has elements of Rayvolt’s design language that is prevalent in its Cruzer, Beachin’, and Torino models, it will also be available in a variety of rich colors, including Original Copper, Devil Black, Urban Grey and Neon Graphene.

Safety features

In a nod to safety considerations, the X One offers a plethora of integrated lights to makes 24/7 riding safer and more accessible. Ambient photosensors are integrated into the X One’s frame that turns the headlight and taillight on automatically (a feature that has been common on cars for years).

App-based intelligence

In one of its more innovative features, the X One’s smartphone app was designed to utilize facial recognition to improve the ride experience. As the X One was smartly designed to allow the most popular smartphones to securely dock inside the frame itself (below the handlebar), kinetics can be used (for example, the blinking of the left or right eye) to activate turn signals automatically. The facial recognition software also looks for the owner and automatically unlocks the bike when the owner is appropriately identified. This latter capability is the definition of cool and useful innovation. Long term, I can envision how these technological innovations could be beneficial to ride sharing companies who might want to utilize Rayvolt’s e-bikes in short-term rental scenarios.

Rayvolt is not your typical e-bike company

With the X One announcement, Rayvolt continues to position itself as a premium e-bike company that does not rest on its laurels. As I’ve mentioned before, while the overall e-bike category is growing at an impressive pace, the market is inundated with many participants that lack a differentiated vision or are merely competing on price. Many will not stand the test of time. Rayvolt, on the other hand, should be commended for delivering the type of 21^st-century innovation that the e-bike category acutely needs.

Rayvolt’s X One will be available in June 2020 and can be ordered on Indiegogo with special campaign pricing that starts at $1,999. An excellent overview video of X One is available via this link.

The post Rayvolt’s X One Redefines The E-Bike Category With 21st Century Technologies appeared first on Moor Insights & Strategy.

With its legendary reputation in the professional live audio arena, Sennheiser is no slouch when it comes to building audio products that are perhaps best-in-class from a sound fidelity standpoint. The company recently introduced its new $399 MOMENTUM Wireless over the ear headphones. Featuring active noise cancellation, voice assistant access, and integrated microphone capability for calls, the big question for me was whether this new headphone can effectively compete in a crowded market known for popular wireless headphones from Bose and Sony.

At $399, I believe the new MOMENTUM Wireless is a worthy competitor against the likes of the new Bose Headphones 700 and Sony WH1000XM3, which offer comparable features. I’ve always been a fan of Bose (especially its new Headphones 700), but I found the sound quality of MOMENTUM Wireless to be strong, forceful and highly detailed. They fit a bit more comfortably on my head and had more of a luxurious look and feel than the Bose Headphones. Battery life is strong at 17 hours, and I found it appealing that Sennheiser opted for physical, tactile controls on the earcup rather than touch controls (like on the Bose) that can sometimes be finicky.

While the sound fidelity of the MOMENTUM Wireless is absolutely spectacular, I did find its active noise cancellation, even at its highest setting, a bit mediocre in comparison to other brands that I’ve used before (particularly the new Bose Headphones 700). But while the noise cancellation did not entirely cut off the outside world, I did like its “transparent hearing” mode which boosts external sound to make the user more aware of their surroundings.

The wireless headphone space is a crowded one with many compelling, immersive and stylish offerings. All of the comparable brands are priced in the $300 or higher space, and it’s hard to make a bad decision. With that caveat, if superb audio quality is what you’re ultimately after and noise cancellation is a secondary consideration, the Sennheiser MOMENTUM is a fine choice and deserves your attention.

Fluidity’s FT Aviator aspires to change the way we fly drones

Fluidity’s FT Aviator is a $350 “smart” controller that works like a traditional flight stick. Almost every drone controller (including models from popular DJI) uses a two-stick setup in which the one stick navigates the drone along a horizontal plane and the other along a vertical axis. An actual aircraft doesn’t fly that way, and seasoned drone owners often complain that the two-stick method is unnatural and cumbersome to use.

The FT Aviator looks quite similar to the controllers that gamers use with a flight simulator. It is compatible with multiple drone models from DJI. Designed to be held with two hands (one hand on the stick and one underneath the base), the device is completely ambidextrous and can be easily used by a left or right-handed person. A smartphone cradle is affixed to the bottom of the Aviator so you can view a feed from your drone’s camera. DJI’s app is replaced by Fluidity’s app (available for Google Android or Apple iOS). The cradle is cleverly designed so that it can be moved from one side of the controller to the other, and it had no issue accommodating my large iPhone 11 Pro Max.

I was able to easily connect the FT Aviator to my Phantom III model drone, and it only took a few minutes before I had my drone sailing down a side street at my home in San Jose. I marveled at the ability to use the Aviator without having to look down at it, something that was nearly impossible for me to do with DJI’s bundled controller. The FT Aviator is undoubtedly more intuitive to use than a traditional two-stick controller, and the trigger buttons were highly fluid and responsive.

The chief problem with the FT Aviator—and it’s not a trivial one—is that it must be used in concurrence with DJI’s controller. This is because the FT Aviator is purely a navigation device that relays its navigation “inputs” to the DJI drone’s controller. Unfortunately, this makes for a pretty unwieldy experience as the DJI controller must be connected to the smartphone via a USB cable. If you can accept that type of setup (and the mobility implications it might cause), the FT Aviator does allow you to fly your drone in a significantly more fluid manner and injects a higher degree of enjoyment into the drone flying experience. I suspect that it will be an indispensable accessory for many drone users.

ClearUp addresses a common chronic health problem

According to the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, allergies are the 6th leading cause of chronic illness in the U.S. with an annual cost in excess of $18 billion with more than 50 million Americans suffer from allergies each year. While your sinuses are supposed to produce mucus as part of the body’s healing process during a cold, clogged sinuses can cause acute pain that sometimes requires medication. Allergic rhinitis, often called hay fever, is a common condition that causes symptoms such as sneezing, stuffy nose, runny nose, watery eyes and itching of the nose, eyes or the roof of the mouth. While allergic rhinitis can be seasonal or perennial, symptoms of seasonal allergic rhinitis occur in spring, summer and/or early fall and they are usually caused by allergic sensitivity to pollens from trees, grasses or weeds, or to airborne mold spores. A new smart health device from Tivic Health called ClearUP is designed to relieve seasonal and year-round sinus pain from allergies without requiring medication.

About the size of a small bottle of Crystal Light, the $149 ClearUP is a highly portable device that uses microcurrent technology. It is completely drug-free with no chemical side effects. The FDA-cleared product treats sinus pain from allergic rhinitis by applying proprietary microcurrent waveforms to the sinus nerves under the cheek, nose and brow bone to relieve sinus congestion. I asked a close friend of mine who suffers from an ongoing painful sinus condition to try ClearUP, and her experience was actually quite good: the recommended 5-minute treatment provided her with over 5 hours of sinus pain relief. While I’m not a medical expert by any means, ClearUP looks to be a convenient “anytime, anywhere” drug-free solution to sinus pain. It’s worth checking out.

Skyroam Solix X: the WiFi hot spot you’ve been waiting for

Portable WiFi hotspots have been around for years, but Skyroam’s Solis X is a bit different from the other solutions on the market. Small, battery-powered and compact, the puck-shaped Solix X gives you a gigabyte of full-speed 4G LTE WiFi mobile data for a flat fee of $9 per month. But there’s more.

If you live in spotty areas where WiFi coverage is tough to come by, Solix X could be the solution for you. Its internal virtual SIM card allows you to connect in more than 130 countries, and, unlike the original model, you can share it with up to 10 devices (ideal for the multi-device world we live in). I did not get a chance to test the Solix X outside of the United States, but it connected and worked like a dream in San Jose and San Francisco, where I used it for a couple of day meetings when local WiFi was not available. It comes with an integrated 4700 mAh battery that lasts more than 16 hours on a single charge. Interestingly, it also includes a built-in 8MP wide-angle camera and a Bluetooth-based microphone and speaker. These features are actually much more useful than you might think; one could use Solix X to remotely stream live video at an event, freeing up the phone or tablet for other activities. Thankfully, the Solix X uses a USB-C outlet that can be “fast charged” with the appropriate USB charger, and the device is managed by a well-designed Solix WiFi app, available for the Android and iOS. At a $179, it’s a bit pricey but its affordable non-contract WiFi access plans (both “daypass” and monthly) make it a bargain, considering what you get from the device. Bravo, Skyroam!

Some closing thoughts

These products reaffirm my belief that useful innovation is still very much alive in the smart consumer technology category. While the smart tech space is crowded with many “me too” solutions that offer little differentiation, these products demonstrate that you can compete in a congested product category and find compelling ways to stand out. That’s the essential ingredient that I look for when deciding which products to cover. I’m looking forward to providing additional commentary on some equally noteworthy “smart” solutions over the next 60 days—stay tuned.

The post More Exciting Smart Solutions To Consider For The Home And Office appeared first on Moor Insights & Strategy.

First a little background: as a seasoned business traveler, I’m always in search of ways to slim down my travel bag. On my business trips, I typically bring an iPad for content consumption and my trusty HP Spectre X360 13″ notebook for content creation. I cannot tell you how thrilled I would be if I could somehow jettison most of the peripherals and cables that accompany me on my travels in exchange for a single device. My chiropractor would undoubtedly be appreciative as well. Enter iPadOS.

The new operating system, unveiled at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference back in June, is essentially a superset of iOS that has scores of features designed to take advantage of the larger screen real estate that iPads offer. While Apple has been slowly adding features to iOS over the past few years to expand the iPad’s functionality, iPadOS is a giant step forward in that direction. It still has a few gaps, in my opinion, that need addressing if it is going to fully replace my laptop while I’m on the road, but it’s getting tantalizingly close. Let’s take a closer look.

What do I like best about iPadOS?

iPadOS has literally hundreds of new features—far more than can be covered in this column—so I’ll limit my coverage to what I see as the top four new features. Keep in mind that I’ve been using the public beta version of iPadOS, and while it’s mostly feature-complete, there’s still fine-tuning and optimization going on.

#1: Overall iPad usability gets a giant boost: iPadOS adds several useful features that we tend to take for granted in Windows or MacOS. For example, you can conveniently pin widgets to the left side of the home screen. You can also now have two apps anchored side-by-side, with even a third app floating over the top. You can also open up multiple windows of the same app and swipe through them, similar to the way that you switch apps today on a traditional iPhone.

#2: A full embrace of external storage devices: By allowing the iPad’s Lightning or USB-C port (depending on what model you have) to be used with adapters to connect to external USB storage devices, consumers can now easily share files utilizing the Files app in iOS and iPadOS. This is not a trivial new feature—it really brings the iPad (and iPhone by extension) significantly closer to the same type of file sharing functionality that has been available in MacOS and Windows for over 20 years.

#3: Safari gets a big upgrade: Consumers will appreciate the fact that the iPad’s Safari browser is now fully-featured, giving them the exact same experience they’re accustomed to on their PCs. Why is this important? Some web sites accessed on a mobile device still have a tendency to get “gummed up” from a formatting or functionality standpoint. The upgraded Safari browser embedded in iPadOS will go a long way towards eliminating this phenomenon. And did I mention that Web sites look spectacular on iPadOS?

#4: Mouse support finally comes to iPad: Apple finally decided to add traditional mouse support to the iPad, which can be enabled wirelessly via Bluetooth. While this facilitates a traditional desktop-like experience, be forewarned that Apple’s implementation is still somewhat handcuffed—the mouse pointer cannot be reduced, creating some precision challenges. Having said that, mouse support is a godsend for applications like MicrosoftExcel or PowerPoint. I expect Apple to enhance this capability over time, and I’m sure it will be embraced by many users when iPadOS is formally released in September.

Have I jettisoned my laptop yet?

All of this begs the question—have these great new features in iPadOS allowed me to move to a single device yet for traveling? The answer is a qualified “yes.” I’ve taken my iPadOS-enabled iPad Pro without my HP  laptop on a couple of business trips so far without any significant incident, though I must admit that I’ve haven’t put to the real test yet: creating a PowerPoint presentation from scratch. I’m still getting used to the new gestures required to enable multiple windows on the iPad Pro, but the good news is that I suspect my learning curve will be steep. I’ve also had to invest in a hub (I like the HyperDrive 6-in-1 USB-C Hub) which allows me to add a USB-A, MicroSD/SD memory card, an additional USB-C, a 3.5mm audio jack, and HDMI support so that I have device connectivity while I’m on the road. I currently use Apple’s expensive Smart Keyboard, though I’m not thrilled with its mediocre typing experience. I’m contemplating buying one of the keyboard cases from Brydge that essentially converts your iPad or iPad Pro into a traditional clamshell portable form factor.

Some closing thoughts 

I would encourage users to wait another 4 or 5 weeks for the release of the official version of iPadOS—the latest beta versions are still buggy and prone to mysteriously restarting your iPad. Having said that, I would absolutely postpone any laptop notebook purchase decision; I suspect iPadOS would make anyone think twice about buying a new portable. At the very least, it will give you ample justification to buy a 12.9″ model. It’s a real game-changer, and I can’t recommend it enough.

The post Early Thoughts: iPadOS Will Change The Way You Work appeared first on Moor Insights & Strategy.

Netgear Nighthawk AX12 Router satisfies your need for speed

I’ll admit it: I’m a hopeless router fanatic, and I’m always on the prowl for a faster way to wirelessly access the Internet. Part of this is grounded in my ongoing quest to solve a design flaw in my condo: the cable jack in my home is located on the second floor of my house, while my home office and work iMac are located downstairs. While I would prefer to connect my desktop directly to the router for the fastest Internet performance and the lowest possible latency, it would be a significant job to run another cable jack to my home office. Hence my fixation on finding the best, fastest wireless router.

While I get very good performance with my existing Orbi mesh networking setup with consistent download speeds in the 300Mps range, ping speeds are often in the 12-14 millisecond range. I’d been hoping that new WiFi 6 (802.11ax) routers would give me snappier, low-latency performance, and I’m happy to report that Netgear’s new Nighthawk A12 router gets me a lot closer to nirvana.

The beautifully designed Netgear Nighthawk AX12 is shaped like a spaceship with two delta wings that hide the router’s antennas. It will undoubtedly be an attention grabber in your home. While there are multiple versions at various price points, I tested the $499 RAX120 model, which accommodates AX WiFi speeds up to 6Gbps. The RAX120 features a multi-gig Ethernet port (5G/2.5G/1G) and an optimized 64-bit 2.2GHz quad-core processor that is well-suited for smart home applications like 4K UHD streaming and online gaming. Of particular importance to me is the router’s Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) capability that substantially increases network capacity (compared to today’s WiFi) and reduces latency for an improved WiFi experience. While the name of this feature seems to have been conjured up by a frustrated Star Trek screenwriter, the function does indeed do what it’s supposed to do.

Since PCs with integrated WiFi 6 support are not expected to show up until the fall, I had to conduct my testing with 2 Nighthawk A12 units connected in “bridge mode”—one router connected to my iMac and one connected to the upstairs modem. While this usage scenario would be cost-prohibitive for most consumers, my test results were telling. I saw average sustained speeds of around 700Mbps between my iMac and router, a remarkable increase over the ballpark 400Mbps speeds I generally see with my Orbi mesh setup. Most importantly, ping performance was consistently in the 8ms range—I was able to streamYouTube and Netflix  vitually without any buffering.

Routers like the Netgear Nighthawk AX12 nicely demonstrate the potential that WiFi 6 has in the home. While much of the industry chatter is focused on 5G right now, WiFi 6-based routers will play an essential role in flooding the house with high-bandwidth, low-latency Internet access as more ISPs provide gigabit and multi-gigabit “pipes” to the home. I expect most major PC OEMs will start including WiFi 6 capability in their desktops and portables this coming fall and holiday season, which will really turbocharge the interest in WiFi 6-based routers.

A “brilliant” solution for the smart home

If you’re looking for a unified solution to manage functions like lights, locks, and thermostats inside of your home, look no further than Brilliant. It’s essentially a touch panel, available in various sizes, that replaces the traditional mechanical switches on your wall to allow smart control of your home. It is voice and motion-activated, and features integrated Amazon  Alexa functionality.

I tried out Brilliant’s two-switch panel (4.76” X 5.3”), which features an LCD touchscreen with a very readable 720 X 1280 resolution and two indented sliders that work as dimmers. I appreciated that the panel was only slightly larger than the conventional regular light switch panel I was replacing. I decided to install it in my home office, as that room has an overhead dimmer light that I rarely used. A caveat: you need a 120-volt double switch gang box that is grounded, and it must be wired in compliance with the National Electric Code.

Brilliant has both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. Once I physically installed the unit (which was much easier than I anticipated), I downloaded the Brilliant app and easily added my Wemo-enabled lights, Ring doorbell, Nest Thermostat, and Sonos speakers. I found the ability to watch my Ring doorbell camera feed on the Brilliant panel to be especially useful. Additionally, it’s nice to be able to control Brilliant supported lights (from the likes of Philips Hue, LIFX, and Lutron Caseta) with the panel’s Alexa functionality. For large homes with multiple Brilliant panels, the product even features room-to-room video chat functionality.

In my opinion, as a convenient, modern-looking wall solution, Brilliant fills a glaring hole in the smart home market. Unfortunately, Brilliant is not inexpensive; its prices range from $199 to $449 MSRP depending on the number of switches, so it will add up if you’re going to outfit your home with multiple Brilliant panels. Cost aside, Brilliant is a stylish control solution for your smart home that is both intuitive and highly useful.

Creative SXFI Air Headphone takes a swing at “holographic” audio

If you thought that the wireless headphone category was running out of ways to innovate, think again. Creative’s new SXFI Air headphones are the industry’s first to provide integrated support for Super X-Fi technology, the company’s innovative take on what is being called “holographic” audio. Holographic audio is a technology that essentially turns stereo sound into an immersive 3D-like audio experience.

The admittedly grandiose mission of the SXFI Air is to move beyond the traditional conventionality of headphone listening. The SXFI Air offers a comprehensive app-based suite of features for playing music over Bluetooth, and even via an integrated microSD card slot.  From a design standpoint, these over-the-ear headphones are big and not conducive for using on a plane or a commuter trip like the popular BOSE QC35. At almost 12 ounces, they’re even a bit heavy for their intended home use. However, the earpads are made out of breathable memory foam that allows heat to disperse, making them quite comfortable to wear.

The headphones claim a battery life of 10 hours—not bad, though other competitive wireless Bluetooth headphones have battery life in the 15-20 hour range. The SXFI Air does not offer active noise cancellation. However, the ear pads themselves blocked enough external sound that the lack of active noise cancellation wasn’t a dealbreaker for me.

On to the real question: how do they sound? While I cannot say that music sounded distinctively better than my trusty Bose QC35, it was a decidedly different experience with movies and games. The SXFI Air shines by rendering sound in a highly realistic (and immersive) way. I streamed The Dark Knight on Netflix, and the action and dialogue seemed with the SXFI Air than my Bose QC35 headphones. Moreover, my favorite baseball game, MVP The Show 19, on my Sony Playstation 4, was a totally different experience with the SXFI Air. The crowd noises, umpire calls, and all the other game audio sounded more realistic and distinctive.

At $160 MSRP, the Creative SXFI Air are not the most expensive headphones on the market, nor the least costly. I believe they represent an important step in making audio a more powerful element of the gaming and video entertainment experience. There are more portable solutions on the market, but if you’re a gamer or want a top-flight immersive experience while watching action movies, the SXFI Air may be just the ticket for you.

Honorable mention

Before I conclude this column, I wanted to give a quick shout-out to a product that I received a few weeks ago from Gillette. The GilletteLabs Heated Razor, while not a smart product in the traditional sense, has changed the way I shaved in just a few weeks. I’ve only experienced the barbershop “hot towel” treatment a few times in my life, and but I believe many would agree that softening the whiskers with a heated towel makes for a closer, less irritating shave. The problem is that heating a towel is messy and not very convenient.

I’ve been using the product for the past two weeks, and while I was skeptical at first, I’m pleased to report that the product actually does work at advertised. The battery-powered razor consistently produced a noticeably closer shave than my standard Gillette 5-blade Proshield razor. Its single button activates the heating mechanism, and it takes less than a second to heat up. While it is definitely warm to the touch, I never felt that I might inadvertently burn my face.  While it is waterproof and can be used in the shower, I found it a bit heavy. The razor’s battery is rechargeable via a chic, space-efficient powered stand.

The GilletteLabs Heated Razor is one of the more indulgent consumer products I’ve used. The catch is that the starter kit (which includes the charger) is $200, and a replacement pack of 4 blades costs $25 ($8 more than Gillette’s current ProShield blades). I can’t say that it will change your life, but it does get your day started on the right note.

Wrapping up

That’s it for this week’s smart home product roundup. Over the next few weeks, I will opine on a few topics that several readers have asked for my perspective on, including a column that addresses several common myths surrounding the smart home, and another that focuses on some important developments in the cord-cutting space. Stay tuned.

The post 4 Cool Smart Home Products That Deserve Consideration appeared first on Moor Insights & Strategy.

Apple customarily unveils several new software changes for its mobile and desktop products in June. This year’s WWDC19 event, held at the San Jose Convention Center with over 6,000 global attendees from 77 countries, didn’t disappoint and included some big hardware news for users who use Mac Pro desktops for professional video and media editing. There was a lot to absorb, but from my perspective, here are my top takeaways.

Was the Supreme Court watching?

Apple announced a whole host of privacy and security changes woven throughout the entire 2-hour presentation. I believe these were announced, in part, as a defense to the recent Supreme Court ruling that consumers were free to sue Apple for alleged anti-trust allegations. This is not to say that Apple’s privacy and security enhancements in its new iterations of iOS 13 and MacOS (Catalina) are not part of a genuine concern for consumers, but I almost got the sense that these updates were part of a defense of Apple’s ecosystem approach. In effect, Apple was stating, “Yes, we charge developers up to 30% in app commissions, but an ecosystem approach is the only real way we can protect customers from privacy and security-related problems with their mobile and PC devices.”

In doing so, Apple seems to challenge Google and imply Android users can’t possibly get the same security and privacy protection benefits because Android is so open. What’s more, Apple knows that implementing these same privacy changes would impact Google’s bottom line. Metadata becomes less valuable for remarketing and advertising purposes as it becomes less precise about your location and other person-specific metadata points (e.g., shopping history, etc.)

iPad gets it own variant of iOS to become a more robust general productivity platform

Apple recognizes the iPad is capable of becoming a more robust general productivity device and announced a new variant of iOS − dubbed iPadOS − that is focused on taking better advantage of bigger screens. Apple claims its iPadOS will provide better multitasking, multiple windows in apps with a split screen, folder sharing in iCloud Drive, snappier (shorter latency) Apple Pencil for better markup capability, USB thumb drive support and a desktop-like experience for Safari, just to name a few of the announced features.

While Apple continues to evolve the iPad into a worthy challenger to a traditional desktop or notebook, the company didn’t forget about MacOS at the event. Apple’s new version of MacOS Catalina was given a shot in the arm with many nifty new features including the ability to use an iPad as a secondary display (Sidecar), assistive voice control, and activation lock protection for your Mac. Apple also announced that its venerable iTunes app would be broken up into independent apps focusing on music, podcasts, and TV/video content. Many would agree iTunes has become a little long in the tooth, particularly from a usability standpoint, and should not be surprised by this announcement.

Apple had a Brexit-like moment at WWDC for the Apple Watch by announcing changes and enhancements it was making to WatchOS 6. The new WatchOS features are exciting as they allow the Apple Watch to function more independently without having to be wirelessly tethered to an Apple iPhone. A redesigned Health app with hearing monitor capability and fitness trend tracking, voice memo, and calculator apps, as well as new Apple Watch app store, are all signs that Apple Watch might one day become a truly standalone device, especially as more powerful models are introduced in the future.

New Mac Pro models offer potentially explosive performance

Less important to consumers (but newsworthy nonetheless) was Apple’s announcement of a new high-performance line of Intel Xeon-based workstations. Designed in the infamous “cheese grater” tower form factor, Apple claims it has blazing graphics performance and a 32” HDR display (Apple calls it “XDR”) with mind-blowing 6016X3384 resolution that is intended to challenge $40,000 reference monitors. The new Mac Pro and Apple Pro Display XDR announcements are undoubtedly exciting and welcome, since Apple had not refreshed its high-end Mac line in years. These products, however, are really targeted at high-end users–not big unit volumes, but very high margins that enhance Apple’s brand reputation with influential performance users (especially content creators and the Hollywood studio crowd).

Some closing thoughts

I should point out there were literally scores of other new and noteworthy features in the new versions of iOS and MacOS that Apple announced yesterday at WWDC that I don’t have sufficient space in this column to detail.  Thematically, I found it interesting that CEO Tim Cook led the presentation off recapping Apple’s services announcement from March, a not-too-subtle sign that long term, Cook wants to continue evolving Apple as a services company. Hardware will always be vital to Apple, of course, but compelling tablets, mobile phones, and desktops with highly integrated software at the OS level will always be the company’s formula to capitalizing on its service business. That services business accounted for $11.5 billion in 1Q19, up from $9.9B in 4Q19 while hardware revenue was down over the same periods. Services are the name of the game, and Tim Cook knows that.

Finally, if Cook can continue to position Apple as the “good guys” when it comes to privacy and security protection facilitated by the Apple “walled garden” ecosystem business model, Google will have to play catch-up. The big question remaining is: will the Supreme Court upset the “Apple” cart? Time will tell.

The post Apple Throws Down The Security And Privacy Gauntlet At WWDC appeared first on Moor Insights & Strategy.

Though sparse in key details (such as pricing), it’s hard to minimize the scope and ambitiousness of what Apple execs discussed at Monday’s “It’s Show Time” event. Frankly, it made last week’s Google  Stadia announcement look like small potatoes. From my vantage point, here are the 5 biggest takeaways (in no order of importance).

Apple Card takes Apple Pay to new heights

Presumably salivating over Amazon ’s lucrative foray into the credit card business, Apple announced its new, unconventional Apple Card. Consumers can apply for it directly using their iPhone. If approved, the card is digitally stored on the Wallet app where the user can view statements, balance, and payment due dates. The app tags physical locations and retailers to help you sift through transactions and recall where you may have made any particular purchase. Backed by Goldman Sachs and Mastercard, the Apple Card also offers a 2% cash back reward for non-Apple purchases and 3% for Apple purchases, which is paid on a daily basis.  Apple says it will also offer a physical card (made of titanium). Apple is promising no late fees or increased interest rates for payments, though the “fine print” was not made available at the event. If Apple delivers on these promises, this could be a very attractive financing option for many consumers. The new Apple Card will be available this summer.

Apple Arcade is poised to expand mainstream gaming

On the heels of Google’s ambitious Stadia announcement last week, Apple announced a new gaming subscription service called Arcade. The service targets the roughly one billion gamers (by Apple’s reckoning) on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Traditional console and PC gamers may scoff at Apple’s new gaming service, but mainstream gamers are a sizeable market opportunity. The subscription service will include more than 100 games at launch, which can be played across all Apple device platforms (iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Mac). Unfortunately, Apple did not disclose subscription price details at the event.

Apple TV Channels and Apple TV Plus seek to disrupt the TV landscape

The company also announced an update to Apple TV, dubbed Apple TV Channels, in which subscribers can choose which channels (e.g. HBO, Starz, Epix, Cinemax and Showtime) they’d like to subscribe to, paying per channel instead of the traditional, hefty cable package. By itself, this feature is significant; studies have repeatedly shown that despite the numbers of channels offered in a cable subscription, consumers tend to watch the same 10-12 channels 80% of the time. Attractive as this approach may be to consumers, it will be difficult to assess its appeal until pricing is disclosed.

Many were waiting for details about Apple’s answer to Netflix, the new Apple TV+ offering—a streaming service with original programming. Apple rolled out an impressive lineup of Hollywood talent, including the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Steven Spielberg, Steve Carell, and even Sesame Street’s Big Bird. Still, time will tell how successful Apple will be. Consumers have fickle tastes, and Apple’s first foray into original programming, Planet of the Apps, was a high-profile failure. Having said that, Apple has pulled together a well-regarded coalition of Hollywood talent at all production levels and I wouldn’t bet against its success. Apple did not release any pricing details on this new service either.

Apple News Plus offers tremendous value for newspaper and magazine content

One service Apple did announce pricing for was its new Apple News Plus service, a $9.99 monthly subscription that augments its Apple News lineup with magazines. Available now in the United States and Canada, the Apple News Plus app displays magazines with a cool “Live Cover” presentation, animating the covers with dynamic, eye-candy visuals. At launch, subscribers will have access to up to 300 magazines and even big-name newspapers like the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal. Apple claims that individual subscriptions to all this magazine and newspaper content would cost $8,000 per month, so the $9.99 monthly subscription will likely turn a lot of heads.

Wrapping Up

Despite the breadth of Apple’s services offerings revealed on Monday, the company faces a “subscription fatigue” headwind and its success is not guaranteed. I do not believe consumers will blindly sign up for Apple’s services unless the content is great and compelling. It is important to recognize that consumers have more options today than ever before for great video content (and games, if Google executes on its Stadia offering). I believe Apple understands this.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Apple’s continued (and welcome) focus on customer privacy with all these new services. Presenters at the event went out of their way to point out that these services maintain their data personalization capabilities at a local device level, to maintain customer privacy, and the company reiterated it won’t use consumers’ news preferences and spending history to sell advertising. Apple continues to differentiate itself in this area and the company should be lauded for expanding its service offerings with privacy protection protocols in place.

The last thing I’ll say that unlike many previous Apple launch events, this event was exceedingly light on actual demos of the announced services. This is a sign that some of the services may still be a bit of a work in progress and are not quite ready yet for prime time exposure. Nevertheless, Apple laid out a coherent, confident pivot strategy for the world to assess.  Moreover, it proved once again it’s one of the few companies who can make the world stop for a couple of hours to catch a glimpse of its vision for the future.

Mark N. Vena is a Moor Insights & Strategy senior analyst covering the smart home, home automation, security, and console gaming.

The post Apple Boosts Its Place In The Smart Home With A New Services Strategy appeared first on Moor Insights & Strategy.

You can’t say that Plume is resting on its laurels. The Palo Alto-based company jumped onto the scene last year with its innovative Adaptive Home Wi-Fi platform, which provides “smart” mesh networking capability in domiciles of all sizes, using “pods” that can be conveniently plugged into AC outlets throughout the home. In a nutshell, Plume’s solution “learns” how you utilize Internet access and, over time, uses those learnings to optimize and personalize performance from a device, application, usage model and user standpoint. Clearly taken by Plume’s intelligent approach to whole-home networking, Comcast Corporation now deploys Plume’s Pod solutions as part of its Xfinity offering—it even invested in Plume earlier in the year.

Plume is now pivoting to something even more ambitious and long-term. Backed by Comcast, and other big name partners like Samsung Electronics , Bell Canada, and Liberty Global , Plume is spearheading OpenSync, an agnostic, open source initiative. Plume believes OpenSync will help further drive adoption and appeal to service providers and device manufacturers alike—even at the risk of creating competition for Plume.

OpenSync strives to assist service providers by opening up their hardware ecosystems and facilitating an enhanced foundation of new smart home services and apps that extend beyond whole-home Wi-Fi connectivity. The platform centers on two essential components—a device-based software stack for set-top boxes, gateways, and other connected devices (such as smart digital speaker assistants like Amazon Alexa), and a cloud network capability which manages the devices and fundamentals such as service policies, service provisioning, tracking critical performance data and identification of in-home networking problems.

With the OpenSync announcement, Plume appears to be transforming its Plume Middle Layer (PML) stack into an open software play that can link to open APIs and allow client software to speak to virtually anyone’s cloud. The company understands that an open source approach will hypothetically facilitate more competition for Plume, but it believes this threat is outweighed by the fact that service providers will be able to promulgate Plume’s own technology and solutions dramatically faster.

From a long-term perspective, OpenSync is geared towards a future where service providers expand beyond broadband service to meet the growing consumer desire for cross-device experiences and services. Given this, one could see how Amazon and Google, who lead the market with their smart digital assistant solutions, might find significant value in OpenSync and its aspirational vision.

For a deeper dive on OpenSync, I wrote a research paper that can be accessed on both the Moor Insights & Strategy and the OpenSyncwebsites. With industry heavyweights Comcast, Bell Canada, Liberty Global, and Samsung Electronics involved as lead partners, OpenSync is positioned as an agnostic, multi-industry, cloud-based framework with the requisite industry clout to pull it off. The initiative anticipates where the puck is moving, in terms of the delivery and management of emerging residential services leveraging managed Wi-Fi. While OpenSync is indeed ambitious, if executed properly, it could deliver tangible productivity, value, and flexibility benefits for consumers, service providers, and device manufacturers.

The post Plume And OpenSync Initiative Swing For The Fences appeared first on Moor Insights & Strategy.

Table Of Contents

• The Home Network And ISP Infrastructure Landscape
• The Problems That ISPs Face
• OpenSync: A New Framework Whose Time Has Come
• What Problems Does OpenSync Solve?
• OpenSync’s Technical Underpinnings
• Founding OpenSync Partners
• Conclusions
• Figure 1: The Evolution Of The Smart And Managed Home
• Figure 2: OpenSync Core Capabilities

Companies Cited

• Bell Canada
• Broadcom
• Cisco
• Comcast
• Hulu
• Liberty Global
• Netflix
• Plume
• Qualcomm
• Quantenna
• Samsung
• Shaw Communications

The post RESEARCH PAPER: OpenSync Initiative Envisions Cloud-Managed Modern Services appeared first on Moor Insights & Strategy.

Saturday, October 13th marks the one year anniversary of the passing of John Medica and I wrote this tribute to him a year ago.  I’m sure many in the Forbes audience knew John and will appreciate the sentiments I’ve tried to convey in this article.  All of us who knew John miss him dearly.

Sometimes, bad news hits you out of the blue like the proverbial bolt of lightning and it changes the way you’ll think about the world and your life just a moment later. That happened to me and numerous former  Dell  colleagues of mine when we learned last Friday afternoon that our good friend, John Medica, had suddenly and unexpectedly died of a heart attack. He was only 59.

Like many others, I’m still having challenges wrapping my head around the notion that John is no longer with us. I guess we bonded from the start because like me, John was from the Northeast and we were both huge Yankee fans. Let me correct that — we were crazy Yankee fans.

It sounds like a cliché, but when God conjured up John, he broke the mold. I mean this in the most literal sense possible. He was larger than life in every way that accentuates the few special folks we intersect with throughout our lives who actually make a difference.

Upon reflection, what I remember most about John is not his accomplishments in the technology space at Dell (which were enormous), but the plain fact that he was just a kind and good person. Full stop. When you met John, you instantly wanted to be his friend and you wanted to hang around with him.  Some talented tech space business leaders do not want to get close to people because they feel it might compromise their ability to manage them, but John was extraordinarily different in that respect. He wanted to know you. He wanted to know about your family and how they were doing. When you were around him, he had this innate ability to make you feel special. With an “always on” toothy smile and offbeat sense of humor that made you laugh because he tended to chuckle at his own jokes, John made you instantly feel comfortable, regardless of the business situation. He was absolutely not the kind of senior business leader you’d generally encounter in the tech space.

This is not to say that John was not intensively competitive or driven in his working style. He absolutely was but his genius was that you never knew it when you worked for him. It’s been said about the great Joe DiMaggio that he made the tough plays look easy and effortless and that aptly describes John. He was constantly on the prowl looking at ways to innovate in an aggressive manner. Case in point: in the early 2000s,  Microsoft  came up with a version of Windows called Media Center that had a 10’ interface that allowed PCs to be used in your living room for couch-based playback of TV, movies, and music. Great idea except that Microsoft wanted to increase the individual royalty of Windows — and when we came up with the idea of bolting on our own Dell designed living room interface on top of the standard Windows OS which would allow Dell to avoid the Media Center “tax,” John was delighted. To this day, I can’t describe the pure joy it was to watch John make gleeful faces on a conference call with a senior Microsoft exec who was not exactly thrilled (and that’s an understatement) with what we had done. Pure Medica.

Another example of a classic working experience with John that I’ll never forget: around 2004, I had proposed that Dell get into the desktop PC gaming business by leveraging its performance products in the workstation space. This was not the typical venture for Dell to take on as it was a low volume business, but the margin it would throw off would be enormous given the high ASPs of these gaming PCs. After a tough but ultimately successful business review with Michael Dell where he gave us the needed approval to move ahead, the meeting went on about 15 minutes longer than it should have because I couldn’t withhold my enthusiasm and continued to talk. Walking back to the parking lot in Round Rock, John wrapped his arm around my head and intoned, “Hey Yankee Clipper, next time when you’ve got the order, stop selling.”

But I must admit that my fondest “Medica Memory” was when I traveled with John. Trips to Asia (and there were lots of them) are often grueling: time zone disorientation, all day non-stop meetings followed by elaborate (multi-course) dinners with customers and suppliers that could take hours when all you wanted to do was get back to your hotel room and sleep. But when you traveled with John, the hours flew by. It was like traveling with a Borscht Belt comedian. My favorite story: after a long day of meeting in Taipei, we had an elaborate dinner with a well-known Dell supplier and the customary pre-dinner business card exchange began and approximately 15 customers formed a procession and started presenting their business cards in the traditional formal fashion. John greeted the last person in line by saying, “Hi, I’m John Medica with Dell.” The customer bowed his head and said, “Good evening, my name is Charlie Chan” to which John replied, “Good to meet you. Do you have a detective agency branch here in Taipei?” Having absolutely no clue about John’s 1930s B-movie reference, the person looked understandably puzzled but that didn’t prevent John from laughing at his own joke louder than any other person in the room. Classic Medica.

John holds a special place in my life as he, along with the brilliant Jeff Clarke, hired me at Dell in 2003 to manage their consumer desktop product team. Working at Dell was an incredibly challenging but rewarding experience that forever shaped my career and made me a better leader. But it was John who became a trusted mentor to me and we remained good friends well after I left Dell.

The last time I saw John was last year in July. I had to fly from San Francisco to Dulles for a conference. On that day, I got upgraded to business class (which almost never happens to me) and after I boarded the plane and was putting my luggage into the overhead compartment, I heard “Hey, Yankee Clipper!” and there was John, enjoying a drink and wearing a Yankees cap. We sat next to each other and caught up for the next 6 hours and it was just like old times. My plan to sleep on the flight went up in smoke but I didn’t care.

I’m quite sure all of John’s friends, family and colleagues have similar entertaining stories about John. Perhaps John’s death means a lot more to us because it reminds of us our own mortality. John was, quite simply, a good person who did remarkable things in his career but never sought out attention for it. That wasn’t his thing. I think what mattered most to him was the relationships he had with others. And while we’re all devastated that he was taken from the world far too early, I can say with certainty that we were all incredibly fortunate to have our lives touched by John and he will never be forgotten. People come and go in your life, but not John. He was one of a kind and there is no question that I’m the better person for having the special privilege to know him. So with that and in his honor, I say: “All Rise, John Medica.”

I know he’d appreciate that reference.

The post All Rise, John Medica appeared first on Moor Insights & Strategy.

The nuts and bolts

There was broad speculation before today’s announcement that Apple’s next generation of smartwatches would be thinner and offer larger screens. Apple delivered on those rumors—the new models now come in 40mm and 44mm sizes, with screens close to 30% larger than the previous models. They also feature a thinner case size than before.

The Series 4 sports a new Apple-designed 64-bit S4 processor (a GPU), which Apple promises will deliver twice the performance of the Series 3. Another important enhancement is an integrated speaker that is supposedly 50% louder than current models. This will undeniably come in handy for the new watchOS 5’s Walkie-Talkie feature, as well as Siri commands.

The new Apple Watch Series 4.    APPLE

Fall detection and heart monitoring capabilities broaden the appeal 

It’s difficult for me to withhold my enthusiasm for fall detection, which I see as a crucial feature for wearable devices. I have written extensively in prior columns how fall detection in smart cameras (like Lighthouse) could have an enormous impact on the “aging in place” market, with the potential to save lives. Apple clearly recognizes this value too—the new Series 4 automatically detects falls (both backward and forward), and if the person lays immobile for a period of time, an emergency SOS call can be made to a designated family member or friend. COO Jeff Williams observed during the announcement that the development effort for this capability was not trivial. It will be interesting to see how smartly the new Series 4 avoids false detections.

The new Apple Watch Series sports a variety of new health monitoring features.    APPLE

It’s all about serious heart health monitoring

The new Series 4 is FDA-approved and also features major improvements in heart health monitoring.  The new Apple Watch can take an electrocardiogram, which enables you to monitor your heart for anomalies and test for atrial fibrillation. The new WatchOS can even capture that info so you can send a PDF to your physician. Products like KardiaBandthat offer devices with similar functionality (but with a $10 per monthly fee) will look a whole lot less appealing with the introduction of the new Series 4.  Apple also announced that the new Series 4 features 18-hour battery life (including 6 hours of outdoor workout time).

The Apple HomePod gains new functionalities.     APPLE

HomePod gets new features

If you blinked, you might have missed that Apple also announced some new functionalities for HomePod, its wireless smart speaker announced earlier this year. Two HomePods can now be linked together as traditional stereo speakers to provide more immersive sound in various home entertainment configurations. A free software update will allow Siri to search songs by lyrics, set multiple timers, make and receive phone calls (which is long overdue), locate iOS devices, and exploit the new Siri Shortcuts features that will be available in iOS 12.

Wrapping up

Still, the big story in my mind (beyond the new iPhone X models) is that Apple is doubling down on the health monitoring and accident detection capabilities of the new Apple Watch. I can’t overemphasize the long-term consequences of this announcement. I believe it will open up the smartwatch to a sector of customers who would have never considered getting a smartphone—specifically older consumers.  I am convinced that the new Apple Series 4 will save lives. We are at the dawn of an era in which wearable technology will fundamentally improve and protect our lives in real-time. Apple is taking a powerful step towards fulfilling that vision with today’s Apple Watch Series 4 announcement.

The new Apple Watch Series 4 will be available for pre-order on September 14^th and will be available at retail stores on September 21^st. They will be priced at $399 with GPS capability, and $499 with cellular support.

The post Apple Watch Series 4 May Be a Life-Saver appeared first on Moor Insights & Strategy.

You can download the paper here.

Table Of Contents:

• Summary
• Market Sizing And Usage Models
• Intel’s Prior Efforts In The Smart Home
• Overview Of Intel’s Macro Strategy
• A “Best In Class” Consumer Experience
• How Does Intel Distinguish And Differentiate Itself?
• Conclusions
• Figure 1: Worldwide Smart Home Opportunity (Units): 2016-2022
• Figure 2: Intel Viiv
• Figure 3: Intel’s Connected Home Approach
• Figure 4: Intel’s Focus For The Smart And Connected Home

Companies Cited:

• Amazon
• Apple
• ASUS
• Cable Labs
• COMCAST
• D-Link
• Eero
• Google
• Hulu
• IEEE
• Intel
• JD.com
• Microsoft
• Netflix
• Netgear
• Plume
• Wi-Fi Alliance

The post RESEARCH PAPER: There’s No Place Like The Smart Home appeared first on Moor Insights & Strategy.

Consumer Technology Association 

As expected, last week’s CES was an expansive affair, with 3,900 exhibitors presenting interesting (and more than a few head-scratching) products and solutions across 240,000 square feet of floor space at the Las Vegas Convention and World Trade Center. More than 184,000 attendees visited this year’s show (a CES record), and while a several hour blackout briefly threw the event into chaos, overall it did not disappoint.

I saw a lot of cool gadgets that ran the functionality gamut in the smart home space, from well-established companies and startups. Here’s a recap of the more compelling products I saw during the week. To be clear, I have not had the opportunity to test these products yet, but they do represent promising usage models (not simply solutions looking for a problem—can you say Juicero?).

Intel’s Smart Home strategy

Despite all the noise about the notorious Spectre and Meltdown chip vulnerabilities (much of it overblown, in my view), Intel showed real leadership in outlining several highly critical (and badly needed) elements that it believes will drive a better consumer experience in the smart and connected home. While not strictly a product announcement in the literal sense, Intel articulated several innovation directives: the need for faster WiFi (802.11ax support), home security enhancements at the device level, and a heavier emphasis on design for traditionally ugly devices such as routers. I wrote an extensive article about Intel’s plans in Forbes which you can read here.

Sony’s new Aibo robot dog, showcased at CES 2018.

Sony brings back its famous (and impossibly cute) Aibo robot dog

You must have a robotic heart if you’re not in love with the latest incarnation of Sony ’s beloved Aibo, the robot “dog” that garnered a fanatical following in the late 1990s. I was fortunate enough to get a sneak preview of the new Aibo at an exclusive meeting with Sony’s President on the eve of CES, and as a former owner of the original Sony Aibo, I can say without equivocation that the new model is a dramatic improvement. The new Aibo sports a whole host of enhancements to connectivity (both WiFi and cellular), sensors, and AI (that enables Aibo’s lifelike behavior to mature over time). While it will only be available in Japan when it launches this month (where it enjoys a fanatical following) and the $1,700 MSRP (190,000 yen) may scare some potential consumers, I suspect it will be a big hit given the current momentum and awareness surrounding consumer robot products. You can see a short video of the demo here. I defy you to dislike it.

Channel Master and Plex showcase easy to use “cut the cord” products

Over the past month, I have written extensively about the growing number of products that aid consumers in the quest to “cut the cord” from their cable or satellite provider and capture free “Over The Air” TV content. Channel Master showcased its STREAM+ Media Player, a $99 device that offers a friendly Android TV interface with built-in Chromecast support, dual TV tuners, and a subscription-free DVR. A short overview of STREAM+ can be viewed here. Not to be outdone, California-based startup Plex showed its Plex Media Server, which takes a software approach on your PC or NAS (Network Attached Storage) device to deliver an equally sociable interface for streaming your content to a wide range of devices. Check out this video overview of Plex’s functionality here. I am anxious to review both solutions over the coming weeks, so please stay tuned.

Z-Wave Alliance makes further inroads into the smart home

Before there were home automation solutions like Belkin’s Wemo and Apple HomeKit, there was Z-Wave. Introduced back in 2001, Z-Wave is a wireless communications protocol used for home automation. Designed as a mesh network, it utilizes low-energy radio waves to communicate from appliance to appliance. This facilitates wireless control of a huge number of residential appliances and other devices, such as lighting, smart thermostats, locks, windows, and garage door openers (just to name a few). Today, there are approximately 2,400 products on the market that support the Z-Wave protocol. Despite the enormous breadth of Z-Wave device support, few consumers are aware of Z-Wave. Companies such Google , Amazon.com and Apple dominate the brand awareness landscape, though that’s a little misleading—those solutions focus on the user interface dimension of home automation, while Z-Wave supports the “glue” that provides the actual connectivity to your smart home network. Check out Z-Wave’s web page for more information and an overview of its wealth of supported devices.

Intuition Robotics’ new Elli-Q assistant

Intuition Robotics introduces ElliQ

One of my more intriguing meetings at CES was with several of the principals at Intuition Robotics, the startup behind ElliQ—essentially a desktop “social robot” device designed specifically to help older adults bridge the digital divide. While CES was replete with companies offering a wide variety of consumer-related robot products, Intuition Robotics is one of the few companies I’m aware of that is targeting this specific age demographic—I applaud its efforts to address this market. The ElliQ product utilizes artificial intelligence to facilitate a more engaged lifestyle, by recommending activities and making it easy to connect with friends and family members. Still in beta testing phase, ElliQ is expected to ship somewhere in the March timeframe. If interested, you can see a quick overview via this link. I suspect Intuition Robotics is on to something with this product. It might not be as adorable as Sony’s new Aibo robot dog, but addresses a market that few (if any) other companies are focusing on.

Comcast steps up its game in the wireless, home automation, and home security spaces

Thanks to its terrific Xfinity set top box interface, Comcast currently boasts the best user experience (in my opinion) for accessing premium video content. At CES, Comcast doubled down on its commitment to the smart home by extending its home automation services to approximately 15 million customers, by facilitating significantly faster WiFi throughout the home and enabling control via its X1 voice remote.

Samsung’s newly unveiled “The Wall” TV.

Samsung’s new 146” TV has an interesting twist

Samsung’s breathtaking new 146” 8K wireless TV (dubbed “The Wall”) was certainly the talk of the show and has been heavily reported on. I won’t dwell on it too much, except to comment that I was intrigued that its new MicroLED display technology (which the TV is based on) is apparently user configurable—meaning that consumers can expand the size of their screen post-purchase as their needs change. When I pressed Samsung’s officials at CES about how this process would work in a practical sense, without the edges of the added modules being noticeable, they kept mum. Regardless, kudos to Samsung if it can pull this off without degrading the video quality of the TV itself, which looked magnificent (to say the least) at the First Look press conference.

From a smart home standpoint, Samsung also announced that all 2018 Smart TVs going forward would include Bixby support (Samsung’s rival voice assistant to Google  Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Apple Siri). Samsung sees the living room TV as the centerpiece of the smart home; a “hub” for syncing and managing other all other connected devices. With Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa showing up on scores of other devices in the home and Apple HomePod finally shipping in the next several months, Samsung has its work cut out for it. Bixby will have to rise above the noise in a very crowded group of intelligent voice assistants.

I was also pleased to see Lenovo and Google jointly announce a new lineup of Lenovo Smart Displays with integrated Google Assistant functionality. Available in 8 or 10-inch models, these devices offer vibrant HD displays in a surprisingly modern (even minimalist) design. During my brief time playing with these models at CES, I was impressed with their touchscreen responsiveness—undoubtedly the result of being powered by Qualcomm ’s Home Hub Platform, which features a high-performance SoC with integrated CPU, GPU, and DSP functionality. I was also impressed with the audio quality (both clarity and loudness) of the Smart Display, which cut through the noise in the loud, crowded restaurant where I was shown the device.

Available in the early summer, the 8-inch and 10-inch models will be priced at $199.99 and $249.99 respectively. Lenovo is obviously aware that the upcoming “battle for the bedroom” is getting more intense, and these products position the company well against those featuring Amazon Alexa and Apple Siri.

iHome makes a big splash with its Amazon Alexa-enabled clock radio

As I remarked to Forbes staff writer Parmy Olson last week in her report about CES, the smart home battle between Amazon.com and Google could not have been more noticeable at the event. While Google has done a reasonably good job trying to catch up to Amazon over the past 18 months despite Amazon’s 2 year head start, my personal observation is that Amazon Alexa is still winning the battle for device placement. This was perhaps most evident in iHome’s booth at CES 2018.

iHome, as many consumers know, made its mark in the home years ago with the first affordable clock radio “docks” with integrated Apple iPod (and ultimately iPhone) functionality. Committed to “winning the bedside” battleground and maintaining its strong presence in consumers’ homes, iHome announced an impressive Alexa-enabled clock radio called the iAVS16B. I could easily see consumers placing a clock radio like this in multiple rooms to facilitate Alexa coverage throughout the home. Additionally, since the iAVS16B also includes Apple HomeKit support, you’ll have access to your Apple iTunes library from any HomeKit-connected device.

AXIS brings the window shade into the 21st century

Finally, in the department of “why didn’t they think of that first?” comes AXIS Gear, an affordable device that allows you to automate your existing window shades. While automated window shades have been around for some time, existing solutions almost always involve replacing the entire window shade—often cost prohibitive for many consumers. Additionally, one must factor in the complexity (and incremental cost) of adding a AC power outlet to accommodate the motor at the top of the shade.

If you’re like me, it’s too much of a hassle to manually raise and lower my blinds every day and I’m unwilling to pay $5,000 to replace my blinds and make the necessary electrical outlet changes. I would imagine that automating the raising and lowering of blinds would also have a non-trivial cost-saving impact on electricity bills. This will likely to appeal to a lot of consumers.

As I mentioned at the onset of this article, these are just my initial observations of some of the more compelling smart home and home automation solutions that I saw on display at CES. The sheer volume of home automation and smart home solutions (not to mention home security, which I have not even covered here) appearing on the scene right now is staggering. It’s easy to understand why so many consumers are overwhelmed by the options. In future columns, I hope to bring some sense and order to this very confusing subject—I welcome your comments and feedback.

The post Top Smart Home And Home Automation Products From CES 2018 appeared first on Moor Insights & Strategy.

With that in mind, and in no particular order, here are my thoughts/predictions on what we’ll see in the smart home and security space in 2018:

Channel Master’s new Stream +

#1: More and more cord-cutting solutions will hit the market: I’ve written extensively about the cord cutting phenomenon over the past several weeks, as more solutions emerge that can provide a close to equivalent experience to cable and satellite subscriptions. I’m particularly interested in solutions that combine both free “Over The Air” (OTA) and “Over The Top” (OTT) services (e.g. Netflix , HBO NOW, Hulu) so that the consumer has an integrated news and entertainment experience, with access to local news and sports. The new AirTVproduct, released just a couple of weeks ago, is an excellent solution, but the landscape will get even more promising over the coming months. Channel Master, a longtime player in the OTA space, recently announced STREAM +, which will provide consumers with another great choice to cut the cord. I expect to see a number of other new products in this category that will make the cord cutting experience easier, more seamless, and more versatile.

Apple’s forthcoming HomePod.

#2: Apple’s forthcoming (and hotly anticipated) HomePod will surprise the market by rivalling Amazon Alexa-based products from a home automation standpoint: Much has been made of Apple ’s delay announcement back in November (some of it almost bordering on outrage), but I give tremendous credit to Apple for taking its lumps in the press—it’s never an easy thing to do for a company the size of Apple , with its legendary (and often outspoken) fanbase.  While I have no direct knowledge of this, my guess is that Apple recognizes it trails Amazon.com (not to mention Google and even Microsoft) in the home automation space, and the delay may be due to making sure that HomePod’s Siri functionality performs well (especially with HomeKit-based smart home devices).   Apple certainly went to great lengths at HomePod’s announcement earlier in the year to emphasize the product’s sound quality, but I believe Apple  realizes that HomePod needs to be much more than that to command the $349 price point (which is substantially higher than Amazon’s best-selling 2nd generation Echo model, with a list price of $99).

The post 6 Big Predictions For The Smart Home/Security Space In 2018 appeared first on Moor Insights & Strategy.