Comparing the way we are interacting with technology today with how it used to be three decades ago, things have took a massive transformation and technology has grown enormously. Many innovations and inventions have evolved since the first discussion about a network of smart devices in 1982, when an improved Coke machine at Carnegie Mellon University in the USA became the first Internet-connected appliance.
Then came the Internet of Things which actually first became popular in 1999 through the Auto-ID Center at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Fast forward to today, modern technology has revolutionized our lifestyle. From the preferences we set on our smartphones and tablets, smart devices can now determine and read our daily habits and rituals. What’s more, many modern everyday devices in our homes and offices are now interconnected to the Internet and efficiently identify themselves to other objects. Gone were the days when a device performs solely its basic function and relate just to you. Nowadays, the device is connected to other surrounding objects, intelligently communicating and acting in unison. It is as if the world is becoming one big information system. We’ve said hello to smart appliances and smart devices, making our everyday life less complicated. And we’re not turning back. Technology is moving forward faster than we can imagine.
The way we use the Internet has evolved and will continue to evolve tremendously. After the craze on personal computers and mobile devices, the Internet of Me is the new big thing, breathing in wearables and other connected objects, delivering personalized experiences to the consumers.
The Internet of Me path is getting more and more personalized. And it is becoming so prevalent that more and more brands are doing everything they can to inject more personalization into their products and contents – innovative and quality devices that are now customized to the users’ needs. These manufacturing companies move so fast in deploying the internet in a personal way for the consumers – from analyzing our movements, our brains, our actions, our sleep, our health, and connecting our everyday devices such as cars, home appliances, beds, clothing, smart watches and other wearable technology.
In the International Consumer Electronics Show held last month in Las Vegas, many interesting modern devices were unveiled and displayed, such as smartwatches, sensors analyzing one’s golf swing and comparing it to a professional golfer’s swing, applications to monitor and improve the quality of sleep, and a connected baby bottle to measure the nutrition intake of an infant.
These contemporary and technologically meaningful devices are all built with so much personalization, meeting the consumers’ specific needs, and to some degree, even predicting what the users might want next. Pampered, many customers are now used to these personalized experiences online, and many more consumers expect to have that same level of experience from everyday devices via personalized products and personalized lifestyle.
Many people are now enthusiastically embracing the Internet of Me. Because here, customers are the king.
Photo by Gerd Leonhard.
