The Internet of Things Returns Value to Consumers
IoT Returns Value to Consumers Directly and Indirectly
From both direct value from increased convenience, to cheaper goods and services, the IoT returns value to consumers through increased competition and broader adoption. The simple IoT use case (discussed in this post) and its resulting business case (discussed here) enable serious savings in terms of time and money. Those savings will of course allow early adopter companies to be more profitable than others, but as adoption spreads companies will price compete with one another, and those savings will be passed on to the consumers who will get higher quality service and products for lower prices.
Or a bit further into the future, your calendar app automatically reserved it for you and then your self-driving car drove you there the day of the event without even needing further input from you. Parking spot monitoring and reservation is all possible with today’s technology. This kind of smart city parking system could significantly reduce congestion around major events and thus reduce traffic incidents. These were two very simple but scalable IoT use cases. If even the condition based maintenance use cases alone were realized, we would already obtain tremendous efficiencies from the IoT. Equally grounded and valuable applications exist in healthcare, infrastructure management, household goods, and more.
I think it is a required feature from IoT to be truly profitable for its adopters. This is one of the several ways to promote internet of things in the mainstream industries.