The technology powering the
Internet of Things is hardly perfected.
There will be bumps and failures along the way and some will be highlighted more than others, for a host of reasons, as I wrote about here a while back
(Self-Driving Car Fatal Failure: Realistic Expectations Of The Internet Of
Things).
One of the latest – and this one is getting worldwide attention – involves the failure of an Internet-connected automatic pet feeder.
Turns out there was a
glitch in the $149 Petnet SmartFeeder, an IoT device that can be pre-programmed to dispense food to pets at certain times of the day. The server that runs the system failed for a number of hours,
which was later restored.
The failure is being widely reported, some with somewhat dramatic headlines. Here are a few:
- “Pets go hungry after auto-feeding app Petnet
suffers server outage” (International Business Times)
- “Cats, dogs starve as Web-connected show chute Petnet plays dead” (The Register)
- “Petnet smart feeders
break, leaving pets without food” (The Independent)
- “Pets starve yourself after Internet-connected feeding application Petnet suffers server outage” (Worldwide Business
Occasions)
- “Family pets left hungry after ‘smart feeder’ fail” (The Daily Express)
- “Internet-connected pet feeders suffer server outage, leaving pets
hungry and owners miffed” (Daily Dot)
The Internet of Things also was singled out in some headlines. Here’s what I mean:
- “Now you too can starve your
pet with the Internet of Things” (Gizmodo)
- “Your dog could go hungry if you’re too dependent on the Internet of Things” (Motherboard)
There
undoubtedly will be technical issues as the Internet of Things grows. A lot of this stuff is not simple.
The popular Nest thermostat also had some issues this week as the heatwave caused
outages, since the devices obviously require an Internet connection to function through the app.
While many consumers may not be aware of the term ‘Internet of Things,’ they often
will be made quite aware when there is a failure within it. Any product marketing may have to include contingencies for failures, even those that are temporary.
When the Internet of Things
works well, no one tends to notice.
When it doesn’t, it will be visible for all to see.
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The world of
wearables will be discussed in detail at the coming MediaPost IoT Marketing Forum Aug. 3 in New York. Check out the agenda here.