If you’re looking for the latest toy, coolest gadget, or weirdest picture, go ahead and check out another blog. There’s plenty of folks reporting on the sex and sizzle of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. For me, the week is more about collecting discrete data-points and connecting the dots – boiling them down into useful insights.
In this three-part series, I will share trends that I think will carry forward into 2015. In Part 1, I discussed how I see the Health and Wellness industries leaping forward in 2015.
We think we’re inundated with technology. We think of being surrounded as having a phone in our pocket, a pedometer on our wrist and a game console in our bag. We don’t have a clue. Today’s reality is to the future what a 2D movie is to real life.
Here’s why.
Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming the Internet of Everything (IoE).
Pointing out that the internet of things is for real would be like observing that the internet has changed the way we work. The sensors already exist and are deployed in the real world. The automated home. The connected car. While not mainstream, these IoT use cases are here to stay.
But this year is the year of IoE. Everything is becoming connected. Pick any object in your sight right now, and, someone will likely experiment with a connected version of it this year. The connected ball room dress. The connected floor mat. The connected seat cushion. Everything will be connected.
In 2015 we will see an explosion of connected. It will bring about the second generation of the connected – IoT 2.0 is the IoE.
First generation IoT devices are moving from Invention to Innovation.
First generation IoT devices at CES finally felt baked. They had purpose. Their use cases were sound and their applicability clear. No longer were they providing data, they were providing insights and allowing immediate action. Their user experiences were intuitive and fully baked.
The next generation of IoT devices will have a clear value proposition. Mom won’t have to ask, “Why would you want that?” She may not like it, but she’ll understand it. And because of that and advancements in form factors, they will begin to see mass adoption.
In 2015, while IoE devices explode, IoT devices will find a purpose and be used by the early majority.
Droids are everywhere. Spider droids. Copter droids. Enough of the droids.
Robots are not new. Remote controlled vehicles have been around. Droids are exploding. There were more types of droids than you could count at CES. As folks like Amazon announce plans for commercial applications of remote controlled, connected and smart robots, more and more folks will begin to play with them. In the air. In the water. On the street.
The droid spottings that now make the news will no longer be news in 2016. It will be too commonplace. While the skies won’t yet be full, it will not be uncommon or surprising to see a droid whizzing by overhead, or weaving in and out on the street.
In less than 10 years, we’ll look like the Jetsons (yup, many of these things look like space ships, folks, and you’ll look up and be able to a dozen of them flying around at any point in just a matter of years).
2015 is the year that we begin to see droids in the air on a semi-consistent basis.
Technology will continue to explode in 2015. While it will blend into our normal everyday lives, it will also become even more predominant and will feel like it’s engulfing us. Are you ready for it? Or do you think it’s over the top already?