Let the battle for the smart thermostat begin

The often-ignored, hardly ever programmed, humble thermostat is morphing into a unique and undercover gateway into the smart home — that is, the dream of the fully connected house where all the objects can talk to one another and be controlled remotely.

In 2012 there will be a growing number of companies across sectors — from device makers to analytics firms to utilities to telcos — that are now suddenly looking at the networked, digital thermostat as an important way to connect with consumers. Why 2012? After the growth of home Wi-Fi networks, consumers are just now becoming more comfortable with the idea of the connected home, and they are starting to use the mobile phone as the remote to manage connected devices like TVs, audio systems, cars and eventually appliances and thermostats.