The biggest splash in electronics industry news this year, the Internet of Things, will likely be one of the bigger fads of the year. This does not mean, however, that it will necessarily be that successful, at least on the consumer side. Most people are familiar with the Internet of Things right now – the idea that devices in peoples' homes could be connected to the Internet for what can only be vaguely described as reasons.
There are plenty of reasons why someone might want to connect their fridge to the Internet, for one thing. An embedded camera in the door of the fridge could allow users to survey their glorious mustard racks from the super market, for example. But there as just as many reasons that don't make any sense. Sure, many home processes can be made to use a phone app, but is that necessary? Does the general public hate getting up to start their electric kettles enough to invest in a thousand-dollar solution? Is there any reasoning being done as to how these new devices will actually help anyone, or are they technology geek confetti?
New features, no answers
Many offerings to the Internet of Things are at least novel, but heavily overpriced – at least for the average consumer. Some examples:
- KeeLight's offering of a Wi-Fi enabled multicolor light bulbs debuted at CES, which can be controlled with an app on a mobile phone remotely. This is great, but the bulbs are $100 dollars a piece. Who's willing to spend upwards of a thousand dollars for a single room in a house in order to have on-demand mood-lighting?
- DADO Labs' new Behmor Coffee Brewer is a IoT-enabled coffee brewer – not a French press or espresso machine, but an ordinary drip-brewer – that costs $349. The presumed advantage is that the settings of this particular brewer can be set with an app on a phone, allowing people to start their coffee roasts from their beds. (This is almost worth it.)
- The EDGE Grill by SABER, which is a $1,899 IoT-enabled grill. Christine Robins, president and CEO of Char-Broil LLC, said of the grill, "With the DADO Platform we are developing a group of smart grills that will simplify the outdoor cooking experience, making it even more enjoyable and much easier for today's busy, connected consumer." For anyone who must grill, but hates the outdoors, the smell of meat, or actually grilling, this is the perfect gift.
These products all have one theme in common – they have no reason for existing. They are simply old-fashioned devices with online functionality pushed into them in order to appeal to those already interested in IoT devices. This does not mean that they aren't the forerunners of something bigger. Next week, we'll cover the growing realm of IoT-enabled business devices, and discuss how they are laying down a blueprint for the future of the IoT. The devices aimed at the corporate world will be the technology trends that feature the real meat of how the IoT can be used, and will be the guideline for using the IoT in the future.