Josh.ai, Installer Services, and the Potential for Subscription Voice Control

A spate of announcements and new partnerships from start-up Josh.ai have seen the company further its push into the high-end smart home installer market. Last month, the company announced its first integration with a satellite TV company with a partnership with DISH Network. The partnership will see the Josh.ai voice control platform offered as an option alongside existing support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Both Josh.ai and DISH invested in bringing the Josh.ai control offering into Hopper speaks to the development of the smart home market and of the changing landscape for installer services.

Josh.ai squarely targets its in-house developed platform at only the high-end, professionally installed smart home market, and its platform and the supporting Josh Micro device are only sold through smart home installers and not directly to end users.

The new DISH integration enables these integrators to establish Josh.ai control for DISH as part of a smart home automation system. The new partnership means the Josh.ai systemcan automatically recognize and connect with supported DISH set-top-boxes—this includes all models and generations of the Hopper, Wally, and Joey. Installers can then assign source inputs and outputs for supported matrix switchers, receivers, and TVs throughout the user’s home to create a distributed media system as well as smart home control. Previously, an installer would have had to create individual macros within the home-control system itself to enable such functionality and then map those macros to the Josh.ai platform or another voice control platform. For example, a command to turn on the DISH for TV viewing would require a macro specifying the source device and which device to use for a display.

Both Josh.ai and DISH invested in the integration. For its part, DISH has previously worked to integrate with several automation systems, including Control4, Crestron, ELAN, and URC. While the Hopper already has integrated voice control with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, according to DISH, adding Josh.ai felt like a natural fit given Josh.ai’s position in the custom integration market.

On Josh.ai’s side, its new AV capabilities have also been the basis of a range of new partnership. Already in 2019 Josh.ai has announced integrations for its platform extending its integration with AV devices from Sonos, LG, and Sony as well as existing smart home control systems from Crestron, Control4, and Savant.

Formed in 2015, and with the launch of its platform in 2016, the company targets the integrators responsible for designing and installing high-end smart home market systems. The Josh.ai platform boasts support conversational commands through its natural language programming approach, but key to the DISH Josh.ai partnership and its strategy is its continued role for that custom integration market.

While the installer market comprises a decreasing share of the consumer smart home market, it is nevertheless a growing market and one which delivers significantly outpunches with its share of smart home revenues. For some time, this installer channel has been transitioning at varying degrees and speeds from a largely installation fee model to one increasingly supporting a recurring revenue model for management and services. In addition, the rise of mainstream smart home devices and brands have meant that more and more consumer-targeted smart home devices and brands such as Nest and Sonos are crossing into installer systems. Installers have added support for more mainstream devices from players such as Nest or Sonos. Of course, when it comes to pervasive smart home offerings, voice control from Amazon Alexa and  Google Assistant are key examples.

Josh.ai looks to provide a voice control platform more focused on smart home device control than the more general systems from  larger players including Amazon, Google, and Apple. Through placement of Josh Micro voice control front-ends throughout a home, the Josh.ai platform can determine the location of an individual issuing a command. It uses this to ensure that the actions are carried out where in the room where it is required. This is something that Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant cannot, despite increasingly supporting features designed around multiple devices in a single home, deliver. Such functionality is a key differentiator in the high-end market.

In addition, Josh.ai offers its installers a route to a recurring revenue business model. Josh.ai shares a portion of its platform subscription fee with its installer partners. In turn, installers can buy the system outright, or pay 25% down with a monthly software licensing fee for a five-year, full-service upgraded warranty plan. Pricing details are not public but assumed to be in five-figures. Installers can opt for the Josh.ai subscription to be itemized for their clients or be bundled as part of an ongoing system management fee.

The still booming voice control market has been built on the back of smart home data value and as a platform it is set to have an increasingly central role in resident/consumer lives. With their smart home voice control plays, Amazon and Google are looking to the adoption of their devices and platforms to deliver user data that can be leveraged by their wider businesses. At the high-end of the market, the privacy and data restrictions offered by Josh.ai over Google or Amazon is likely to be a key feature.

Further, out there is potential for a wider demographic of smart home consumers to value privacy and see it as worthy of a subscription fee. If so, the potential for more private voice control platforms like Josh.ai to expand outside of the high-end market cannot be dismissed.

For its part, Josh.ai remains committed to continuing to focus on the installer channel and looks to commercial integrations to add additional potential growth and there is certainly significant potential there. With a small but growing headcount (around 30 people at present), the company remains focused on its installer market. However, with the company’s growing list of compatible devices and systems as well as its push into satellite TV, it may well be delivering a blueprint for independent, subscription-based smart home voice control as an option for a much broader market than just high-end U.S. homes.