tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
1
(Shame on me for this Topic headline!)
$749 retail for the Fibaro Home Center 2 home automation hub; released limited availability to US retail.
Looks like a nice piece of hardware and cloud independent dashboard with graphic rules creator (āAdvanced Scenesā). Is it worth the high price? Too soon to tellā¦
Poland-based Fibaro is targeting the custom-integrator channel with the shipment of its first home-automation hub for the U.S. market. The Z-Wave-equipped Home Center 2 hub began shipping Aug. 3 at a suggested retail of $749. ā¦ Besides integrating with Fibaro-brand Z-Wave sensors such as water, door/window and motion sensors, Home Center 2 is compatible with products from other brands. Those products include thermostats from Nest, Trane, Honeywell, RCS, and 2GIG; IP cameras from D-Link, Gen IV, Hikvision, Geo, Speco, and Axis; Linear garage door openers; Philips Hue lighting; DSC alarms; and other devices. - See more at: Fibaro Home Center 2 Hub Is Compatible With Z-Wave, Nest, Others
European privacy laws are much stricter than the U.S., and getting stricter, but there are still cloud services. So definitely a challenge, but one that can be met, although it does add cost and complexity.
tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
12
Buy you donāt get the Fibaro Home software (support, etc.).
I wonder what their hardware margins are compared to SmartThingsā¦ But Fibaroās business model is based on hardware sales overall, unlike the mystery of SmartThings obvious lack of profit.
True, but when you drop $700 on high-end hardware, might as well spend $200 on high-end software.
1 Like
tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
14
Iām sure Fibaro considers their software to be āhigh endā too.
Well nice to see some competitors out there with a variety of strategies. I wonder if the market will consolidate, like cell phones have, to essentially three choices (Android, iOS, Windows, and dumb phones), with one of those being fully hardware agnosticā¦
There are plenty of people who think that the Smart Home market will actually shake out to the same exact players, actually. Will history mimic itself?
I may be wrong, but I donāt think smart home technologies will repeat the success of smartphone adoption. Smartphones truly revolutionized the way people communicate. Globally! Smart Home tech just does not have thee same reach and the same impact on peopleās lives.
Not everyone has a home in the first place. When youāre single and rent a single bedroom apartment, there isnāt much to automate except maybe for a few lights. Considering how cumbersome it is to setup and operate, it will remain a niche product in the foreseeable future.
Also donāt forget that cell phone industry has a very profitable business model, based on subscription and monthly usage fees. Smart home is a perpetual money loser.
P.S. One of the biggest selling points for the smart home technology used to be āsavings on electricity billā. Well, with proliferation of LED bulbs, this is a pretty much a lost cause. With an LED bulb consuming 5 Watts and lasting 30,000 hours, I pretty much donāt care if itās on all day long
2 Likes
tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
16
Trueā¦ certainly not āgloballyā; but I think ādumb homesā will eventually fade away. The timeframe is difficult to predict at this stage. Heckā¦ when did we actually believe smartphone would reach the capability and ubiquity of today?
There are plenty of visionaries that believe there will be a ākiller appā or ākiller vendorā that will unlock the Smart Home market (I think itās Nest ā¦ others are still convinced it will be Apple Home Kit, sigh.).
Regardless, plenty of analysts also predicting the size of the market. Cross reference to figure out how many vendors this will support, maybeā¦?
I think when first affordable cell phones appeared about 17 years ago and cell coverage reached critical mass, everyone in telco industry realized that itās going to be a game changer. There was no smart phones back then, but it wasnāt too difficult to predict they would eventually appear.
Smart home tech has been around for much longer than cell phones and still is as fragmented and as infantile as it was 20 years ago.
Regardless, plenty of analysts also predicting the size of the market.
I donāt have a lot of confidence in these market studies. The fact is, that with smartphones essentially becoming a commodity and cannibalizing PC sales, everyone is desperate to find the ānext big thingā. Thatās the main reason behind all this recent push (and hype) for the āsmart homeā. To me it sounds more lake wishful thinking.
Iāve been quite impressed with Fibaro devices and have been wanting to try out their hub as an alternative to SmartThings. Personally, I donāt care if it costs more as long as it is reliable.
