While not the most prominent smart home brand or platform, Insteon certainly seems to have taken the lead in holiday season preparation. The company has announced an updated version of its home hub that will retail for $40 – and free in many of its starter kits. With smart home devices getting more affordable with time, we fully predict a scramble of advertising ahead of the holidays, with heightened marketing in the post-holiday and post-CES tradeshow wake. Insteon seems to be getting out ahead of its rivals, but the smart home showdown will begin in earnest when Apple and Google throw their hats into the ring. Until that time, there’s still a lot of room for the smaller players to…