Amazon and Lennar Homes' partnership offering Alexa-enabled model homes in select cities is just one example of how far smart home automation has come, and where it's going.
Home shoppers can now ask Alexa to show a doorbell's video feed, turn down the lights, or put on a party music playlist. However, some customers wonder how this new initiative will handle data privacy, with the concern that voice controlled-technologies are listening in to private conversations and collecting data to then offer targeted ads, Forbes reports. Both Google and Amazon have filed patents for smart home technologies capable of analyzing audio data for emotional cues and trigger words, including "love," "bought," and "dislike."
Digital research firm eMarketer estimates that 18.7 percent of the American population uses a smart speaker in 2018. Amazon owns the lion’s share of the market at 66 percent, with Google coming in second at 29 percent, due to an early market entry and an aggressive growth strategy that has positioned its products at irresistibly low price points or as free add-ons to existing subscriptions.