Right now, your refrigerator does a simple job independently. Your microwave, stove, toaster, car, watch – insert every appliance you know – has a specific function that in independent. Well that all might change.
What is the Internet of Things Concept?
Imagine if each of your devices were aware of your every desire. Imagine if they went into a mode that responded to your current need. Imagine if there was a level of connection between the devices. This is what we are talking about. Devices that recognize each other, that respond to your needs and that react to data trends.
Let’s take an example. Do you like to exercise? Perhaps you are a runner. So let’s go ahead and hit running mode on your smart phone. So what does that do? Well first, think about how you want your devices to respond to you after a run. Perhaps you are hot, you need to hydrate, you like to eat a certain meal and you know you like to listen to a certain type of music to wind down following the run.
Press “Running Mode.”
Here is what happens.
When you start it first triggers all of your running aps. You now have your time / distance being tracked, the music you like to listen to is playing and you are hitting the road in a smooth jog. When you get back, the door to your house unlocks at the correct time, the air conditioning has been set to 3 degrees lower (just how you like it) and a glass of water has been poured for you from the fridge. Your blender has run, and you have a smoothie ready to go. In the background, you hear your favorite track from Red Hot Chili Peppers, exactly what you want to hear after listening to hard rock and running 4 and ½ miles. Your jacuzzi has fired up and is the perfect temperature.
So the big data and device response concept (the Internet of Things) is the idea of setting up the perfect reaction of technology to the way you live your life. You might not even know how you live your life, and what you like to do at certain times, but with big data companies tracking your every move (Google), technology can figure that out for you and make suggestions. The Internet of things, is the connection between your desires and the technology that supports you.
What Does this Look Like Implemented?
In order to accomplish this, there needs to be one central control area and data points. What is a data point? It is your technology! Your refrigerator, your microwave, etc, these are all data points. Each data point would have specific functions that you can enable. These functions would be enabled in order to support your lifestyle. In addition, each data point needs the ability to have simple configurations based on their abilities.
How Will this Change Influence Internet Marketing
The brands offer this level of interconnection will have an advantage from a marketing perspective. Most will be looking for ways to connect these abilities through an Android or iPhone interface. Individual app downloads will be offered initially, but eventually, it will be about one central interface that is built off mood or action of the user. Google Now will allow Google to be ahead of the game on this.
From a search perspective, users will be looking for the products which have the features that allow them to accomplish their perfect mood or action environment. Brands will need to optimize and bid on these terms.
These things are real, and they are coming faster than we think! Many machines with these capabilities are already on display. I encourage everyone to think about how this impacts their industry to get ahead of the curve.