Virgin Media UK teams up with Google for Smart Home trials

Virgin Media has announced a collaboration with Google Nest, trailing a range of smart home products that can be added directly to the customers’ Virgin bill.

 

Virgin Media customers in Cardiff, Southampton, and Manchester will have the option to add a selection of Google’s smart home products to their broadband package. These products include Google’s Nest Hello Doorbell, a connected doorbell with an inbuilt camera that can stream live footage of visitors to your devices; Nest Hub, a touchscreen device with audio recognition from which the customer can verbally control their connected devices; and various indoor and outdoor cameras for use in home security.

 

Packages range from £10 per month to £56 per month, depending on the package selected and contact length, and come with set-up and installation included.  

 

“Our ultrafast broadband, combined with Google’s exciting range of smart security products, allow our customers to take their smart-home ambitions to the next level and stay safe and secure,” explained Annie Brooks, Executive Director of Product at Virgin Media . “The flexible range of bundles on offer give our customers even more ways to get their hands on the smartest home security tech and with our specially trained engineers and support on hand from day one, they can have complete confidence in the service.”

 

While products such as video streaming services have flourished during the coronavirus, the same cannot be said for the smart home market, which, according to IDC, has struggled to maintain momentum during the pandemic. 

 

"The market has lost some ground in 2020 compared with prior forecasts — a result of supply-side constraints, high unemployment, and lockdown measures, among other factors,” explained Adam Wright, senior research analyst for IDC’s Smart Home research program. 

 

Nonetheless, the analysts expect the smart home market to bounce back, in part boosted by new devices from Google, Amazon, and Apple, as well as traditional shopping sprees related to Christmas and Black Friday. 

 

“We anticipate positive year-over-year growth in 2020 across all device categories. As consumers shift their spending priorities from other areas such as vacations, travel, and going out to eat, smart home devices have remained broadly popular," said Wright.