In pursuit of ‘ smartness’

According to a study, Indian consumers are fast embracing other smart devices, apart from phones

Smartphone users in India are now willing to own other categories of smart devices and gadgets to derive advantages on a wider spectrum serving a lot many use cases, a new report said on Monday.

Users are driving towards connected devices and the typical journey involves users getting exposed to it through a smartphone and then buying specific smart devices to enhance the experience as well as derive value-addition, said the study by market research firm techARC.

For instance, users are primarily getting exposed to over-the-top (OTT) entertainment content over smartphones, which is then pushing the sales of smart TV to get enhanced experience.

“The journey beyond smartphones has already begun and the future is equally promising. Although the journey had already started long back with tablet PCs, smart watches, IP surveillance cameras and others, it has really swung up since the launch of smart

TVs, streaming devices, smart speakers among others,” Faisal Kawoosa, Founder and Chief Analyst, techARC, said in a statement.

“In the recent past (less than 3 months), TWS (True Wireless Stereo) and smart STB (Set Top Box) are two categories that have seen huge uptake within Smart Device categories,” Kawoosa said.

The report titled “The Connected Indian Consumer” revealed that Indians are leveraging the benefits and connectivity, smartness and intelligence of these devices to elevate the overall experience of living.

Based on a survey of 2,500 users done on voice platforms including Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, the research, however, showed that smartphones continue to be the hub of being “smart” and the first such device to be owned by any user who is on the journey of getting smart.