Poll: What is Your Leading IoT Prediction for 2020?

Retailers of high end consumer products will drive IoT growth.  A manufacturer that can tell you if your product has a major, minor, non-repairable or economically non-repairable issue could garner a lot of product loyalty.  When something fails, isn't that what we want to know?  Can it be fixed and, if so, how much is it going to cost?

In exchange for this information, the consumer must allow the manufacturer access to the product - allowing the manufacturer to know who has the item.  It's better than a warranty registration card.  The marketing of such a service would certainly have to emphasize IoT security.  I am skeptical about how concerned the average consumer is about security and cite Facebook and other social media platforms as my proof.  People post things online that they really shouldn't - or we wish they didn't.

Retailers of high end consumer products will drive IoT growth.  A manufacturer that can tell you if your product has a major, minor, non-repairable or economically non-repairable issue could garner a lot of product loyalty.  When something fails, isn't that what we want to know?  Can it be fixed and, if so, how much is it going to cost?

In exchange for this information, the consumer must allow the manufacturer access to the product - allowing the manufacturer to know who has the item.  It's better than a warranty registration card.  The marketing of such a service would certainly have to emphasize IoT security.  I am skeptical about how concerned the average consumer is about security and cite Facebook and other social media platforms as my proof.  People post things online that they really shouldn't - or we wish they didn't.

Good points.

However, I would argue that white goods manufacturers, in particular (although fits with others too - such as smart TVs), should reconsider how they view their products.

In my view, a consumer or customer really wants a solution, i.e. something that cleans their clothes, or provides them with entertainment, by way of example.

Hence, if manufactures offered a clothes cleaning solution, for say an annual fee, then the manufacturer (who keeps ownership of the product) will no longer have the data issues, which they have now with a product they manufactured but do not own. If a solution is offered, then the product owner (i.e. the manufacturer) can notify the end user that they wish to repair or replace something if something went wrong (reactive), or is about to go wrong (predictive), or was outside the service level agreement performance threshold. This model also benefits the circular economy model as the manufacturer remains responsible for disposal (although that's a different value proposition altogether).

Furthermore, if we look at the existing model, where the consumer owns a product that is connected to a manufacturer's back-end data systems and the manufacturer then say changes the back-end, post production (and consumer cannot update this themselves), or the manufacture goes into liquidation, or there is a change of ownership, then a perfectly functional product may be rendered inoperable. There are actually quite a few examples of that already happening now.

So, without fundamental structural changes with product ownership to support the IoT connected model, I cannot see how manufacturers can realistically expect to get all the service data (as you suggested) they need and a consumer can continue to use the connected product without potential risk of operability problems later on.

Food for thought,

White goods as a service.  That concept certainly stretches my thinking.  It makes sense and I know people that would jump on the program immediately.