Communications of the ACM
The Internet of Things Needs a Lot of Work
Credit: SecurEdge Networks
Mobile connected devices present too many challenges for users, said industry leaders during a panel at the recent Open Mobile Summit. Frog Design's Mark Rolston notes that users have to link devices, enter passwords, manage home Wi-Fi, and deal with corporate IT departments at work, and are near their limit for babysitting devices all day.
The experts say the whole premise of mobile interfaces is wrong, noting devices should be asking users what they want and learning from prior events rather than forcing users to ask. "There's just a million use cases you can think of where today there's [an] interface to try to understand what the user wants, and in the future there should just be action that does the right thing," says Rick Osterloh at Google's Motorola Mobility subsidiary. He says a car should automatically connect to the Internet by itself and automatically turn on the light when the driver reaches home.
Rolston also notes that rather than using a phone to control devices in the home, the many connected appliances together should form a computer of their own. "The computer is not this box in the corner, or box in your pocket, it's something you are surrounded by," Rolston says.
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