Ericsson’s latest Mobility Report, has many telling predictions, but one that caught my attention the most was that IoT devices will outnumber mobile phones in less than two years. So we’re now heading for a world where the smartphone is no longer the most common device we use to connect to the Internet. Chief among the drivers of that IoT growth are consumer electronics.
We have also recently released Ericsson ConsumerLab’s latest study “Wearable technology and the Internet of Things”, which gives us further clues as to why we’re poised for such a world. Wearable ownership in the five major countries studied has doubled in the past year and consumers are confident wearables will have uses beyond today’s health and wellness. Personal safety accessories and smart garments are some of the things we want our future wearables to be.
With consumers like us expecting to wear more than five wearables from 2020, it’s easy to see why wearables will make many things around us, like watches, keys and GPS devices, obsolete. More than 40 percent of us even think wearables will eventually replace smartphones, with signs of this starting to be visible today: we spend less time checking our smartphones because notifications are now available on smartwatches.
Wearables are already changing the way we interact with the environment and their role in bridging the physical and digital worlds will only become greater in the coming years. It’s clear wearables will most likely be the gateway that links consumers to the world of IoT, but before that happens, a number of things need to be explored and addressed. For example, how soon can wearables become standalone devices not having to rely on the wireless connectivity of others? Or, how well can wearable manufacturers become personal data brokers as preferred by consumers?
These issues are being worked on with new business models and partnerships being formed as we move deeper into the Networked Society. I look forward to connecting with you all in the near future through my new jacket!
