Now in its fourth year, the Connected Home Most Popular Awards has come and gone for another 12 months. So, who won and what did we learn from the 2015 competition?

To view the results, click here.

For one, Sonance, Marantz, Aiphone, Kordz, Screen Technics, Sunbrite, Epson and Middle Atlantic all appear unsurpassable; second, Amber Technology has a firm grasp on several industry leading brands; and finally, integrators aren’t afraid to vote for companies that don’t actually make product that is relevant to the categories in which they are voting.

This year saw the introduction of a handful of new categories – Most Popular Collaboration Tools, Digital Modulators, HDBaseT Extender Kits, Video Conferencing and Wireless Multi-room Audio, which were all hotly contested. There were also a couple of
categories that were decided by a small handful of votes. In one case – Most Popular Remote Control – Push Controls won by just two votes. As for Most Popular Tactile Sound Transducers, Earthquake Sound beat out previous winner D-Box by just one vote.

It’s important for me to remind those companies that didn’t win, these awards are purely a popularity contest. We’re not saying that the winners have the best product on the market, or the newest (nor are we saying you’re unpopular – just that someone else has been voted moreso).

These awards are designed to let suppliers know what integrators think of their brands. Yes, this could be based on product, but it could also include service, support, reputation, incentive schemes or your distribution model.

Already things are happening in the industry that are set to make the 2016 awards very interesting. New brands, new distribution agreements and new products that are set to launch will all affect the results next year. What are you doing?

To view the results, click here.