by Angela Guess
Scott A. Nelson and Paul Metaxatos recently wrote in the Harvard Business Review, “Gartner Research predicts that the typical family home will contain as many as 500 networked devices by 2020. Similarly, Ericsson forecasts 50 billion connected ‘things’ by the same date. Reaching these lofty projections over the next four years, however, will require a fundamental reorientation in the way that technologists and product designers work together to create successful ‘connected’ personal devices and home appliance products. This evolution to ‘Internet of Things (IoT) 2.0’ will be difficult for many companies to achieve — not for lack of technological expertise but because they’ll fail to recognize the value of design in connected product development.”
They continue, “As the application of IoT expands to a broader range of commercial opportunities, enterprise B2B applications have become B2B2C. Fleet vehicle operators now directly engage with IoT devices that can measure their physical condition as well as their driving behavior. As B2C companies rush to exploit new IoT applications, pushing technology to potential end users no longer works. Increasingly, the pull of user experience will drive market demand, and product design will be critical to getting consumers to adopt offerings in this new IoT 2.0 world. The fundamental principle in the IoT 2.0 era is that IoT is not the end product. The IoT is not an iPhone, a networking application, or a wearable device. Customers do not buy IoT. In fact, studies suggest that most consumers are unaware of what IoT is or does. IoT connectivity can enhance a product’s value, but it can never serve as the rationale for the customer purchase.”
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