The Internet of Things (IoT) can help marketers move beyond predicting or reacting to customer behavior. Instead, it can blur product experience with customer experience — so that having a product, using a product and dealing with its company become a continuum. That’s a key takeaway from a discussion I had recently with Scott McCorkle, CEO of Salesforce’s Marketing Cloud. I wanted to understand what his company’s newly announced IoT Cloud could mean for marketers and customers, beyond just more data from everywhere. The new Salesforce Cloud is not only designed to process all those signals marketers currently monitor — such as social media …

Retailers have been quicker than other firms to implement internet of things (IoT) devices and applications, but what about beacons? Those are still catching on, according to Retail TouchPoints. A mere 29 percent of retailers surveyed worldwide by the research company say they have implemented beacon technology in their retail stores.

Although UK adoption of wearables is fairly small, particularly due to the fact that the devices are somewhat new to the market, the use of health-related mobile apps to track exercise, food intake and activity is helping elevate this technology category. Many marketers are buzzing about the internet of things (IoT) as more devices and screens enter the space. Wearables are one of such device that is making an impact in the UK. In fact, wearable device users will double from 7% of internet users in 2015 to 14% in 2016, according to September 2015 research from Lansons, a London-based consultancy.

Apple has quietly updated the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad Air 2, and iPad mini 4 to support the Internet of Things-ready Bluetooth version 4.2. Apple hasn't publicly announced support for Bluetooth 4.2 in the devices. But at some point since September's iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus launch, it has updated its product comparison pages to show that some of its devices have been modified to support the latest version of the wireless standard. Both new iPhones and the recently launched iPad Pro ship with Bluetooth 4.2 while the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus shipped with Bluetooth 4.0.

Alphabet may be compared to Apple in many respects, and vice versa, but there's one area where Cupertino soundly bests Mountain View: devices. On one hand, Apple's iPhone alone is responsible for $147 billion in revenueover the trailing 12-months versus Alphabet's total haul of $70 billion. Alphabet, on the other hand, has struggled with devices. After buying Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in 2011, the company sold the division to Lenovo for $2.9 billion after years of red ink, although it should be noted the company kept certain high-value patents and sold off a portion of the business to Arris for $2.5 billion as well as …

Thirteen billion “things” are currently connected by digital sensors and transmitters. That number is projected to grow to 39 billion by 2020. The expected impact on the global economy by 2025: $6.2 trillion. However, the rapid growth of Internet of Things (IoT) devices is neither the full story nor the real opportunity for marketers in the manufacturing space.  More than 40 percent of all connected devices are used for supply chain analytics and robotic machinery, providing important information about daily operations. In fact, most major companies have implemented IoT projects and are realizing returns on their technology investment, with revenue increases averaging 16 percent in 2014

The buzz around the term the “Internet of Things (IoT)” isn’t being lost on the government. Agencies are hearing about the world we are supposedly moving toward — everything is connected, all the time and data is being collected, analyzed and used to help you do everything from buying food to becoming healthier to alerting you to sales at your favorite store. But sometimes the government must be a little bit of a buzz kill.

In a report earlier this summer, management research consultancy McKinsey highlighted some speedbumps along the road to an annual $11 trillion dollar forecasted Internet of Things (IoT) market. Topping their list of hurdles to this data-rich future? We desperately need communications standards so that devices can seamlessly share data. More and more devices and manufacturers want to capture your data. But few of them are sharing your data, outside of their own purposes. This data selfishness inconveniences consumers and creates a quagmire for software engineers who want to develop IoT applications without having to wrangle data

If you’re anything like me (and I can’t help that I’m so popular), you know the significance of October 3rd. It’s a celebration of all that is good and fetch in this world: Mean Girls. But there’s another holiday on October 3rd that’s worthy of celebration, too: National Techies Day. Launched in 1999 by Techies.com and CNET Networks, Techies Day is an annual celebration of the contributions technology professionals make to encourage students to learn more about a career in technology. As someone who makes her living at a technology PR firm, I salute the techies who are impacting impressionable minds to keep those …

The most obvious aspect of IoT is smart homes. From the moment we wake up, devices-permitting, our homes will be reacting to our very existence. Alarm clocks will be synced up to weather and traffic apps, reflecting what time we need to get up and into work. Heating systems will time it so that we have hot water in time for our shower, while lights will be synced up to turn on only in the rooms we frequent at ungodly early-morning hours.