The falling cost of adding sensors and communications to consumer products will mean that a typical family home in an affluent market could contain hundreds of smart objects by 2022, according to Gartner.
"We expect that a very wide range of domestic equipment will become 'smart' in the sense of gaining some level of sensing and intelligence combined with the ability to communicate, usually wirelessly," said Nick Jones, VP at Gartner.
"More sophisticated devices will include both sensing and remote control functions,” Jones said. “Price will seldom be an inhibitor because the cost of the Internet of Things (IoT) enabling a consumer 'thing' will approach $1 in the long term.”
Gartner believes that the number of smart objects in the average home will grow slowly for at least a decade because many large domestic appliances are replaced infrequently.
Smart domestic product categories are manifold and range from media and entertainment, such as consoles and TVs, to appliances, such as cookers and washing machines, to transport technologies, security and environmental controls, and healthcare and fitness equipment.
Gartner expects various wireless technologies to find a place in the smart home and it's therefore likely that a range of gateways and adapters will be necessary to bridge between the many different standards and protocols.
Also, many domestic wireless smart objects will be portable and won't have ready access to a wired power supply, so battery manufacturers will profit from the smart home as will developers of power supply and storage technologies such as wireless charging.
The smart home will enable new opportunities at all three levels of Gartner's digital business framework — business process (improving existing processes), business models (new business approaches that disrupt existing markets) and business moments (intercepting and exploiting transient business opportunities).
Examples of key business opportunities facilitated by the smart home include new products and features, revenue and cost-saving opportunities, new business models, social and government initiatives, and analyzing and monetizing information.