What You Think It Will Look Like
When people talk about the Internet of Things, there are two examples that come to most peoples' minds: big corporate logistics and smart homes. Those seem obvious. The first is all about how large corporations keep track of their inventory, automate their supply chain, and cut costs around their energy use (and keep track of their employees via key cards and GPS). There are easy benefits for all of us to understand: if these large corporations can cut costs, then the products or services that they provide will also be cheaper. The smart home is similar: easy benefits in convenience, energy savings and security.
However, there is another place where the IoT is taking off: retail. Here's an example of where they will want to go:
(Minority Report, courtesy of DreamworksSKG and 20th Century Fox)
Minority Report was released in 2002 and we're still a long way off from having that level of (intrusive) personalized, targeted advertising. But we're getting closer.
