Comcast Executive Pitches Xfinity Home as Industry IoT Platform

Key addresses at the three-day event point to the prominence content, software and services play in the space, while simple user interfaces are key to driving consumer adoption of connected technology. Scheduled keynoters are from service providers Cablevision and Comcast Cable, Amazon’s Echo group, platform providers SmartThings and Vivint and content discovery company Rovi.

To date, safety and security have led the adoption of connected home technologies, but adoption of monitored security systems in U.S. households is still estimated to be around 20 percent, and 70 percent of U.S security dealers plan to install some type of interactive smart home device this year, said Parks.

Peace of mind has to enter into the mix to boost adoption of smart home systems, said Daniel Herscovici, senior vice president/general manager Comcast’s Xfinity Home. “Non-tech adopters are the key market audience that we really want to drive adoption to the smart home,” said Herscovici. “How do we get past the 1 percent of people in broadband that might have a connected thermostat, or the 3 percent that might have a connected thermostat,” and push that number to 20-40 percent of U.S. households, he asked. Adding peace of mind -- knowing kids arrived home from school, that a package was delivered, that a grandparent is OK in her home -- is key to moving the market forward, he said. That’s part of “redefining what home security is to the consumer,” he said. Home security needs to evolve beyond calling police, fire or ambulance in an emergency to the “unification of life safety and peace of mind as a service experience” delivered by devices or interactive capabilities.

Comcast forecasts the connected home market will double in the next 12 months -- driven by peace of mind, money-savings and lifestyle technology. As other platforms have failed to gain a strong foothold -- and platforms including Wink and Revolv have crumbled -- Comcast is now making a push for Xfinity to be a leading platform in its existing cable markets and broadly through national retailers, said Herscovici.

Herscovici cited the “vertical rebellion” that occurred in the market as the number of devices per household grew, each with its own app, login and user experience. “There’s only so many apps or so many control capabilities that you can tolerate as one individual,” he said. That tolerance shrinks “the more you talk about the mass market,” Herscovici said. The industry’s answer to vertical rebellion was to create different platforms made up of devices and services, but platforms added a cost layer, Herscovici said. “The road is littered with the failed platforms that have existed over the past couple of years and some that have been recently shut down and caused some consumer angst,” he said. “No one wants to pay $10 a month for the privilege of paying $500 a month for the privilege of getting a service,” he said.

The market moved to platforms under “experiences” created by voice-controlled speakers, connected TVs and thermostats, which Herscovici suggested don’t drive mass-market adoption.

Comcast’s pitch is to use the home gateway that it supplies to broadband customers as a way to remove “the friction” of consumers having to shop for another device and install it in the home. Herscovici spoke of redefining what the platform is to "an end-to-end solution” that includes “curated devices,” certified services, professional installation and “one throat to choke, one phone number to call for help.” Consumers want a “Good Housekeeping” seal of approval that certifies a product works, which, he said, is what Comcast has created in its Works with Xfinity Home program.

Under the program, Comcast tests how products integrate into the Comcast ecosystem, how they work with the app, but it also tests how devices function within their core functionality as an electronic lock or a garage door opener, he said. “Consumers are looking for someone to recommend to them what camera to buy and how to install and use it,” he said. The plan is to have only a couple of certified devices in each product category, he said.

The industry embraces standards “but it doesn’t mean that every device is welcomed into the ecosystem,” Herscovici said. He cited IT security, functionality and liability tests as examples of criteria a product has to meet for the Works with Xfinity program. Consumers should have one phone number to call for all the devices in the ecosystem he said.

Herscovici envisioned mass distribution of a platform to get “beyond the 2 million to 3 million voice-controlled speakers sold in the U.S.,” he said with a swipe at Amazon. The vehicle to do that “is in customers’ homes today.” Some 84 percent of households have broadband, and 86 percent of those have a router or gateway with the intelligence and processing power required, he said. “How do we turn those into powerful platform devices?”

In Q&A, an audience member asked how Comcast would handle patches for software updates. Herscovici compared Comcast's approach to how Apple handles patches to apps in its store. “We would manage software patches to devices in our ecosystem,” he said. He imagined a world where “a company doesn’t issue a software patch without going through our test and approval process.” He said “it’s not going to be perfect” and Comcast would manage that process with its partners. A way to simplify the process would be to work with “two or three” thermostat makers in its curated approach rather than a dozen to make the experience more manageable.

In response to a question on how Comcast can compete in the connected home platform market with Amazon and Google and their larger customer bases, Herscovici called the Internet companies “frenemies,” saying Xfinity currently integrates with Google’s Nest thermostat. And he envisioned Echo being one of the interfaces for home control.

A major challenge in smart homes is “when competing platforms come into the home,” Herscovici said. Comcast has an advantage because it already has a relationship with consumers and talks to them often through technical and sales support, he said. “When consumers are installing a platform and are looking for a trusted partner to expand that" -- and walking down the aisles of Home Depot or Best Buy or even shopping on Amazon -- "when they see the Works with Xfinity brand, they know that device is supported by an ecosystem they trust,” he said.