Apr 21, 2014
IoT Product Development - Planning Strategically
Mar 23, 2014
PTC-ThingWorx dual-aggregation business model
By way of context, PTC supplies software and service solutions to discrete manufacturing organizations to help them create and service their products; example products include heavy machinery, medical devices, air-handling and fire-protection systems. While PTC has been in business for over 25 years, ThingWorx was established as recently as 2010. Its aim was to create a platform to speed up the process of developing applications for smart, connected services involving people, systems and devices.
The acquisition should not come as a surprise to readers of this site. The pattern of corporate initiatives in the connected devices market and the rising role of end-user companies were anticipated at the end of 2012.
Mar 3, 2014
Commercializing the Internet of Things
The IoT phenomenon has superseded the traditional market for M2M applications, primarily by embracing a wide variety of Internet- and consumer-connected devices. This is what accounts for long-range market forecasts of billions of connected devices.
Early experiences with IoT applications have focused on novelty – such as connected household appliances – rather than long-term commercial prospects. Many of these implementations simply involve the application of silo-like, M2M concepts to new types of devices and sensors. For companies that aim to develop an IoT strategy, however, failure to distinguish between M2M and IoT is a risk to long-term business strategy.
Feb 11, 2014
Google NEST – a case of déjà vu?
The new team was set up outside of Amazon and its strategic objective was complementary to Amazon's mainstream activities. This was the genesis of Amazon’s Lab126, a start-up that focused on product innovation around a new generation of connected devices. Amazon's connected device road map has progressed from the connected eReader to tablets. Most recently, Amazon’s Kindle has been talked about as a point-of-sale device.
If we fast-forward to the present day, it is difficult to escape a sense of déjà vu when looking at Google’s acquisition of NEST. Here we have a separate entity with core competencies in creating highly aesthetic consumer products, led by executives with a strong Apple-design pedigree. And, according to Google’s CEO Larry Page, Google and NEST are “excited to bring great experiences to more homes in more countries”.
However, relative to Amazon's start-up costs ten years ago, it seems that the entry cost for a new category of innovation in the connected devices arena has gone up to the order of a few billions dollars!
So what did Amazon accomplish with Lab126? What might we expect from Google/NEST? And, what does this mean for companies that can’t afford billion dollar initiatives?
Jan 26, 2014
Review of M2M Corporate Events in 2013
While 2013 saw many more companies taking to the press wires to publicize their sales wins, these are not recorded here as corporate initiatives. If anything, sales wins are the consequence of one or more corporate strategy commitments made in prior years.
An important development that occurred over the course of 2013 was a shift in sentiment to promote IoT in preference to M2M. This began with a raft of announcements at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January 2013. Momentum continued to build around the IoT theme due to significant publicity drives and business commitments by large organizations such as ARM, Bosch, Cisco, GE and Intel.
Jan 11, 2014
Trust in Identity
These companies and the many others that have latched on to the M2M/IoT phenomenon share a vision of a sharp rise in the total population of connected devices.
As this trend develops, users will become ever more dependent on their connected devices. This will give rise to three interesting industry developments each of which represents a potential commercial opportunity.
Nov 17, 2013
The IoT Gets Real as Corporates Commit
A few weeks ago in early November, Intel demonstrated its commitment to the IoT market by creating a special division called the IoT Solutions Group, combining its Intelligent Systems Group with its Wind River acquisition. This development seems like the product of a progressive evolution in Intel’s strategy for the ‘connected devices’ market dating back to its mid-2009 acquisition of Wind River for almost US$900m.
It will be interesting to see how well Intel’s internal re-organization efforts now proceed as it develops more of an IoT market presence, especially as one of its main rivals in the mobile computing market, ARM, has also been active with its own IoT plans.
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