How to save a smart home company

Key takeaways

Community is essential for the revival of tech companies. Insteon's comeback exemplifies how customer loyalty and support can influence a brand's future.
Smart switches can provide flexibility and ease of use, but the integration with various ecosystems remains complex, necessitating careful product selection.
Investing in higher-quality smart lighting products typically yields better long-term performance and reliability.
The introduction of matter and thread technology is set to enhance interoperability and reliability in the smart home world, allowing for seamless control across various ecosystems.
Physical controls remain a crucial aspect of smart home designs, as they enhance overall user experience and simplify interaction.

Summary

Welcome to the Jen Era and the Return of Insteon

The Vergecast kicks off with Jen Tui introducing her new period as host and discussing the importance of smart lighting technology. She interviews Ken Fairbanks, the CEO of Insteon, who provides insights into the company's revival after its bankruptcy, explaining how he acquired the company to restore its services for loyal customers.

Insteon's Journey: A Case Study in Smart Home Resilience

Ken recounts Insteon's history, from its initial founding in 2005 as one of the first smart lighting companies to its sudden shutdown in April 2022. He highlights the challenges faced by tech startups and the importance of having a knowledgeable leadership team to navigate growth effectively. Ken describes how community support among customers played a critical role in resuscitating Insteon.

The Smart Home Hotline with Richard Gunther

In a special extended Vergecast hotline, Jen is joined by smart home expert Richard Gunther to answer listener questions. They discuss the pros and cons of smart switches versus smart bulbs, the reliability of various smart home systems, and the significance of having a strong network infrastructure using thread and matter protocols to ensure all devices work seamlessly.

Investing in Smart Lighting: Products and Ecosystems

The podcast discusses the current smart lighting ecosystem, particularly focusing on the advantages of investing in reputable brands like Philips Hue or Aqara over cheaper alternatives. They emphasize the importance of physical controls and the interplay between smart bulbs and switches, while also outlining the challenges associated with compatibility across different ecosystems.

The Future of Smart Home Integration and Matter

Jen and Richard explore the future of smart home integrations with the help of matter and thread technologies. They discuss the potential for devices to work locally without internet reliance and how they can improve the user experience in smart lighting setups. The problem of device interoperability and how to bridge multiple smart home ecosystems is also highlighted.

Show notes

This week on The Vergecast, we enter the Jen-era of Hot Girl Vergecast Summer, with a deep dive into the business of the smart home. The Verge’s smart home reviewer, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy (aka Jen), chats with Ken Fairbanks, a longtime customer of Insteon who ended up buying the smart lighting company when it went into bankruptcy.

Ken shares the story of how one of the original smart lighting protocols, founded in the post-X10 era when home automation moved from wired to wireless, floundered, and how he and a band of users brought it back from the dead. He dishes what he’s learned about how to keep the lights on — from customer loyalty and the value of subscriptions, to what tariffs are doing to the industry and how some hardware companies are just pyramid schemes.

Then, in a special supersized (and we mean SUPER) Vergecast Hotline (call 866-VERGE11 or email vergecast@theverge.com), Jen is joined by smart home expert Richard Gunther, co-host of The Smart Home Show, to tackle a bunch of your burning smart lighting questions. They answer everything from how to move your smart home to which Thread border router you should buy for your Matter setup. Plus, they run down their own smart lighting set-ups.