tech-company, business-model, growth, internetWhat are the different expectations from “internet of Everything”? if we consider end users and not the industry and technical people.
Making predictions here borders with the impossible. Consider what occurred in 1995 when internet started to become mainstream: had someone told you then that by 2015 Apple would be larger and more profitable than Microsoft, selling devices that are standalone and cloud-aware (an alien concept then, since the debate held that devices should be one or the other), selling more music than the entire CD industry put together, rolling out stores in the age of selling things online, enabling kids to draw with their fingers or spouses to send each other messages by talking to their devices, and [insert more factoids here], I’d gather you’d have laughed out loud and dismissed most or all of it as nonsensical fiction in an alternate reality. And yet, here we are.
I do not think anyone outside of IT is expecting much from the internet of things. Store owners might be vaguely aware that one day consumers will be able to register and pay for a cart-full of items in a store with one big blip because this will affect their bottom line. Perhaps industries that involve logistics are more aware of how transformative what’s coming will be, since they’re well into RFIDs already.
For the rest, it’s really anyone’s guess. Picture devices that diagnose their own problems and schedule their own maintenance for you. Such as a bulb that knows it’s reaching end of life, knows there are no replacements at home, and texts you to buy a new bulb on the way home or prepares an order that’ll arrive home when you arrive. Or a fridge that creates your grocery list based on your eating habits, your calendar, and on its suggestions of what you might want to eat in the coming days. Lots of things could happen. And most of them will be unexpected.
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