Smartphone-connected Mobile Things (Mobile-connected IoT) Innovations: Beyond the Wearables

*** This blog post captures the gist from a popular panel event on 5/7/2015 in Silicon Valley that I moderated for the Wireless Communications Alliance (www.wca.org). 120+ attended. ***

Moderator:

-- Tristan Joo, Board Director and Chair of Mobile SIG, Wireless Communications Alliance

Panelists:

-- George Yu, Founder and CEO, Variable, Inc.

-- Sanjay Bhandari, VP of Engineering, mCube, Inc.

-- Tom McClaughry, Founder and CEO, NewSpin Sports, LLC.

-- Jack Al-Kahwati, Founder and CEO, Velo Labs
-- Jeff Baer, Director of Product Marketing, Embedded Wireless, Broadcom Corporation

With half of the global population connected to Mobile Internet by 2020 and smartphones and app platforms peaking in maturity (in form, fit & function), the next era of mobile industry is shaping up -- Smartphone-connected Mobile Things (Mobile-connected IoT or in short "mThings").  Ironically, the most compelling values to consumers are simplicity, long battery life and practical usefulness -- one size does not fit all users.  The lack of consumer traction with “me too” wearables that merely present contextless set of data provides good evidence.

Conversely, smartphone-connected mThings that are attractive to consumers tend to give one specialized value very convincingly yet in a very simple, intuitive way.  Take, for example, a modular device that senses various object colors or ambient air quality, or motion sensor mounts that coach your golf or tennis swings, or molecular sensor device that analyzes chemical make-up of food and materials, or a smart key lock or a tag that interacts with your valuables, or a smarter wearable that gives actionable, specialized health advice not sensors data -- all of which simply work with any Android phones or iPhones and an app as a hub.  These smart mThings will delight consumer's specific needs for useful contexts that are actually valued – each consumer could end up owning a portfolio of mThings that matter most for him/her and work with any smartphone.  Depending on market traction, we may soon see mThings winners selling in the tens of millions to loyal consumers, compared to the “me too” wearables that ends up selling in fragmented tens of thousands units.

So, what specific smart contexts sensing and UX enabled by such mThings would offer the biggest market growth opportunities and improve consumer daily lives?  How is the consumerization of the industrial / military / medical-grade technologies enabling such disruptive consumer devices by way of miniaturization of electronics footprint and smarter sensors?  Will the most widely adopted mThings UX eventually be integrated into smartphones, or will cost/form-factor restrictions prevent that?  Smartphone Bluetooth pairing issues pervade and WiFi is too power hungry - so, will connectivity challenges slow down adoption even with BLE and LoRa/6LoWPAN?  Also, how can mThings connected through smartphone app hubs converge with broader IoT ecosystems?  What compelling killer apps and services will be built around mThings?  How should API and ecosystem evolve as more similar featured mThings makers pervade to avoid fragmentations seen in wearables?

The next mobile era is upon us, and it's happening "around the smartphone", as innovations inside the phones have matured and as these mThings extend our daily lives around our phones-as-a-hub with tailored portfolio of mThings that matter most to my own individual lifestyle.  Please email and connect with me to explore this exciting opportunity further!