“The internet of things is about what we own and how we build solutions around that rather than what we buy and companies following us around and guessing about us,” says veteran industry commentator Doc Searls.
In an interview with Decoding the New Economy, the writer of the Cluetrain Manifesto discusses how he sees the internet of things changing marketing.
For Searls, the connected shoe is a good example of how individuals can control the data being collected on them and the way businesses can get far more relevant information about how customers are using their products.
Searls sees that the trend towards companies trying to dominate their fields in the Internet of Things as being doomed.
“It’s our internet of things, not theirs. Right now the internet of things is being discussed as Apple versus Google versus Facebook.”
“None of those are going to own the internet of things; the internet of things is a matter of you and your things and me and my things.”
Empowering customers
Searls sees the connected shoe as being a good example of how the internet citing his own New Balance shoes as how manufacturers can get richer data on its customers.
“The interesting thing is there’s much more intelligence a company can get directly from its customers who already own something rather than following us around on the internet.”
Searls’ view challenges today’s model of advertising based services; it may be this is the reason why companies like Google and Apple are so focused on playing a part in the internet of things.