Home Dot Com

He says that these are pervasive issues within the CE industry in general, not just when it comes to home control. "It's a problem to go out and find support," he says. "There's a lot of extra work."

On the retail level, Helmke perceives the market differently. "The retailer is likely to be concerned with generating enough interest to get the consumer to buy the product. Before they do, they need to have an easy-to-use product. They'll go to store A and store B and not know if [these products] will work together."

One way that the industry can contend with this issue, notes Helmke, is by promoting a product not unlike illustro's z/Ware software. He says that it works behind the scenes to streamline the technology that most customers don't want to delve into. "They want to see the product working," he explains. "Once that's in place, the retailers will have ammunition to go after consumers, [saying], 'I've got something here that works.' Up until then, they really don't have anything."