The internet of things (IoT) is the interconnection via the internet of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data.
The interconnected systems that are in place for the IoT provides us with the most contemporary instance of media convergence. Devices being implemented to work along side each other are selling points for some of the digital technology market’s biggest players, like Google and Amazon. The following is a video explaining how the IoT works.
How It Works: Internet of Things
In October last year, Google held their press conference #madebygoogle in which they announced, and have since released their Google Home product. This device is a home system to act as a central hub that sends and receives data to and from your other google products, acting as a web of converged media. Amazon have released a similar product, known as Amazon Echo, however Google Home seems more useful due to the variety of products that google has invested in (gmail, google maps, google drive etc.).
This self-implemented web created by the Google Home system comes across as incredibly synergistic with other google products, which is turn would be convenient for the average western consumer considering how many google products are used on a day-to-day basis. However, those who only tend to use few google products benefit from Google Home less in comparison to those who use their entire suite of goods. The more google products a person uses, the more Google Home can use as well, which in turn creates a larger web of interacting products.
Something to note though is the extent of which this would benefit society and whether or not it would just benefit consumers on a personal level. It seems clear that when a system like this is in place and a user has all the products to converge on said system, it would improve general quality of life and make the user much more efficient in how they can spend their day, including their ability to work at home if needed.
However, that’s only with regards to one person, and due to the nature of this new home system, it strikes me as a very personal product, as oppose to something that has a wider, society improving agenda. For an overall social benefit to occur, a much larger percentage of the populous would need to buy and engage with these kind of products. Cost of said products are factors to consider when discussing whether this will benefit society, as not everything with have the effective demand for said products.
In terms of commercial improvements, I’ve already noted the ability of consumers being able to work at home but it’s important to consider which company’s product are being purchased and the percentage of market share said company has. The public have a tendency to buy products from the leading manufacturer, with the thought process of it being the best product.
Whilst this could allow for the products to work between homes, creating a vast network of devices rather than having individual webs, it would allow companies who have obtained a significant portion of the market share to bump up their prices. The extent to which prices increase depends on the elasticity of demand on the product, if said products were heavily implemented into society, then businesses could afford to increase their prices tremendously because users would see said products as necessities and buy them anyway.
Because this is a reactive process, it means that in the short term, both society and commerce would benefit if a network of IoT were implemented into society. However, in the long term, businesses could potentially profit massively off of the necessity of their products from consumers if they possess a high enough market share.
Harry Draper 