Commentary

The Home Of The Internet Of Things: Everywhere

Since the foundation of the Internet of Things is actual networking, innovation can come from virtually anywhere.

While many mobile startups were born, nurtured and scaled from New York and California, IoT entities are everywhere.

Projects in Asia, Europe and North America are booming, with no real center of activity. There are some notable IoT hotspots, such as Boston and nearby towns, but creation is happening at different scales in different places.

Part of the IoT explosion involves technology and part involves using that technology for new marketing methods.

And the growth of IoT devices is widespread.

For example, wearables are becoming very popular in the Middle East and Africa, with device shipments up almost 65% from a year ago, according to International Data Corp. Another 20% annual growth a year is projected over the next four years.

Sensor technology is also being deployed and starting to be used in new ways.

In New Zealand, Heineken is using beacons at more than 100 locations to provide big ticket prizes to consumers. Such prices include flights around the country and helicopter rides to a special event. The program, including the mobile app triggered by beacons, was developed by Saatchi and Saatchi.

In China, the first mass produced smart car is being introduced by Alibaba. The so-called ‘Internet car’ has its own unique operating system rather than relying on one from Apple or Google.

In London, slow-moving delivery robots will haul food on-demand to consumers. More than 25 robots have driven about 5,000 miles in earlier tests in London and Estonia. Other robotic and drone package delivery services are being developed in numerous countries, along with Amazon and Google.

An automated system in Australia is launching for beer brewing. The system uses Wi-Fi, precise temperature control and fermentation technology at the touch of a button. The remote-controlled brewing is expected in the U.S. later this year.

Virtual Reality, one of the hottest IoT growth areas, is being added to NBC’s Olympic coverage. Using Samsung’s Gear VR, viewers will have access to 85 hours of VR content through the NBC sports app.

There are many more examples, but you get the idea.

The home of innovation for this tech-based revolution has no obvious place.

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Marketing in connected homes? Come hear Trevor Guthrie of Giant Spoon, Dino Hainline of Midnight Oil, Greg Hedges of Rain and Jeff Suhy of Modop at the MediaPost IoT Marketing Forum Aug. 3 in New York. Check it out the agenda here.

7 comments about "The Home Of The Internet Of Things: Everywhere".
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  1. Mark Westlake from GearBrain, July 7, 2016 at 10:55 a.m.

    Great perspective and totally agree.  The only thing I would add is the need to keep a close eye on securing these devices.  We  need to protect a consumer's data and privacy or adoption will slow down.  Many of these new devices are vulnerable to hackers and we need manufacturers of these devices to build security protocols into the devices and not rely on consumers to update devices.  You will not be able to have a consumer download security software for these devices like they do with computers.   

  2. Chuck Martin from Chuck Martin replied, July 7, 2016 at 11:12 a.m.

    Thank you, Mark, and totally agree with your points about security. Many consumers aren't yet aware.

  3. Barry Bryant from Inventor, Entrepreneur, Design, UX , July 7, 2016 at 10:48 p.m.

    True Chuck, IOT applies across industry SCM, security, transit, ticketing, transactions, media. All of these systems will converge between mobile web, apps, devices and IOT access points where the network edge and exchange environments cross pollinate intelligence for a connected value chain resident in story experience.

  4. Jonathan Hutter from Northern Light Health, July 8, 2016 at 8:16 a.m.

    I was going to make a comment about security, but I totally agree with Mark Westlake. Since a new, fully interconnected network is being created ad hoc, it's possible that malware can enter the system and spread, through software embedded in something as benign as a refrigerator. That's kinda scary.

  5. Chuck Martin from Chuck Martin replied, July 8, 2016 at 6:13 p.m.

    Right, Jonathan, but at least the major and large manufacturers in this arena are very aware and focused on this.

  6. Doug Garnett from Protonik, LLC, July 8, 2016 at 8:50 p.m.

    Hey. Wait a minute... Since when is VR an IoT product? That's a stretch...

  7. Chuck Martin from Chuck Martin replied, July 9, 2016 at 10:32 a.m.

    That's where it's heading, Doug, along with AR.

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