Category Archives: Industry News

Voice control: The most sought-after smart home product

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Voice control is the most-wanted smart home product this year, according to a recent survey.

Nearly three quarters of respondents who have smart home products said they want voice control, according to Coldwell Banker’s survey with Vivint Smart Home. Almost half of the respondents already have it.  Most Americans (57 percent) who use voice control use it to control their smart entertainment. One-third reported they use it to control smart lighting and/or smart security products. Those who want the products are also looking to control entertainment (43 percent), control smart lighting (43 percent) and to control smart temperature (41 percent).

Not surprisingly, millennials lead the pack with already having voice control in their homes. Fifty-eight percent of millennials have voice control features for their smart home products, followed by 50 percent of Generation X and 26 percent of baby boomers. However, Generation X are the ones who most desire voice control, according to 79 percent of them. Millennials are right behind, with 74 percent wanting voice control, and 63 percent of baby boomers want it.

Across generations, those with children want voice control activation for their smart home products, 81 percent of parents want the ability to control their smart home products with their voice, and 65 percent already have it.

The majority of respondents said they seek voice control for their smart home products to have hands-free control (30 percent), increased user-friendliness (17 percent) and to be flexible with their location (14 percent).

The smartphone is the leading product that has lead people to seek voice control in their homes. Seventy-four percent of Americans with smart product voice control have it on their phones already.

Debt in U.S. has seen 11 percent increase in last decade

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Debt in the United States has risen 11 percent in the past 10 years.

Today, the average household with credit card debt has a balance of $16,061, totaling $747 billion owed by U.S. consumers, according to NerdWallet. The average household with credit card debt pays $1,292 in credit card interest each year.

The average household with any kind of debt owes $132,529, including mortgages, totaling $12.35 trillion across the country.

NerdWallet reported that income growth has not kept up with the cost of living, leading more Americans to debt. While median household income has increased 28 percent since 2003, the cost of living has gone up 30 percent. Expenses like medical costs have outpaced income growth by 57 percent, while food and drink has increased by 36 percent since 2003.

Housing costs have increased 32 percent, with the average American household owing $172,806 for mortgages, totaling $8.35 trillion for the country. Auto loans have also impacted debt, with the average household owing $28,535, or $1.14 trillion for the country. $49,042 is what the average household owes for student loans, equaling $1.28 trillion.

Despite student loans typically being blamed for lack of homeownership, NerdWallet found that income actually grew more than education costs since 2003 by 2 percent. Student loan debt has increased 186 percent in the last 10 years, but the pace has slowed. Student loan balances grew 6.32 percent between September 2015 and September 2016, the lowest annual growth since 2003, NerdWallet reported.

By the end of last year, the total debt owed was predicted to be higher than the that owed at the start of the Great Recession, thanks to student loans and mortgages. “By all measures, consumers are handling their debt far more responsibly than they have in years past, likely due to a combination of issuers tightening their lending rules and consumers paying their minimums more responsibly,” said Sean McQuay, NerdWallet’s credit and banking expert.