A new report from Juniper Research forecasts that the installed base of connected appliances in Smart Homes will beat the 10 million mark by 2017, rising from 4 million in 2013.

The new report - Smart Home Ecosystems & the Internet of Things – found that consumer awareness of connected appliances, such as smart fridges and washing machines was gradually increasing, but that such devices are not widely considered to represent attractive purchases.

According to the report, smart appliances remain a niche item, given high retail prices, poor use cases and security concerns. Whilst the technology to leverage IoT (Internet of Things) devices is already available, no service provider has yet made a system for intelligent automation available to consumers.

The report observed that CE manufacturers such as Samsung and LG are pushing ahead with their range of ‘intelligent’ appliances as part of their wider Smart Home strategies. Samsung is the first major CE manufacturer to demonstrate an entire ecosystem of appliances and technologies over its ‘Smart Home Service’ platform. However, this service only functions with Samsung products which, the report argues, will likely stunt the growth opportunity, and discourage the brand-agnostic consumer.

Other key findings include:

• Deploying Smart Home services in the cloud will reduce the need for expensive Smart Home device processors, and allow these devices to benefit from the power of Big Data.

• Service providers should encourage a user community to help diversify Smart Home application possibilities to cater for individual needs.