| Doomed to fail If the intention was PR, congratulations, they've got what they wanted. If the intention is P&L profitabilty, sorry, this is going to be yet another telco-driven failure.
For the longest time I've been saying - in public fora such as the Broadband World Forum - as well as in private conversations that telcos are making a big mistake by launching home monitoring and full-frills home security systems. (1) The market for home automation is very niche and there are a ton of solutions companies attempting to sell into it. Telcos are hardly top-of-mind for a potential home automation customer. WE - readers of broandband reports - are NOT the mass audience for a service like this. Just because technology allows it doesn't mean the market exists. It's really business 101. But wait, it gets worse... (2) Someone who wants security - and is willing to pay a pretty penny - will call ADT (or one of its plethora of competitors). Who really trusts a telco to provide home security when they can do a barely passable job of Internet access and/or cable TV? And someone who wants a budget solution will opt for something free / affordable like GotoCamera (full disclosure: I'm a co-founder of the company; that said, it gives me - hopefully - SOME understanding of this space).
Bottomline: the market that these guys are going after doesn't trust them, doesn't think of them first, is small and saturated, and is a long ways away from being "real".
- Varun Arora
Founder, GotoCamera |
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| What the telcos and cable companies are counting on is a "one bill" solution that many people would favor.
However, none of these companies will develop anything new but rather take off the shelf equipment from someone who has already done all the real work and integrate it with their systems.
Why reinvent the wheel? Microsoft used to sell re-branded Actiontec routers and switches years ago to compete with Linksys, D-Link and Netgear. |
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varun
join:2011-01-10
singapore | I worked for a telco for 6 years and have no issues with them not developing something new - it's not their area of competence and, in their position, cherry-picking what's already available is the right way to go.
My issue is with the half-baked concept of telcos launching home automation and security services. The home automation market is niche - telcos are lousy at selling niche services. And bill-consolidation isn't a good enough reason for consumers to buy security services from their telcos.
- Varun.
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Co-Founder, GotoCamera
Delivering peace of mind to Internet consumers worldwide through easy and affordable monitoring services. |
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