Mobile tech takes another bold step
similar uses.
Before too long a business owner won’t need expensive, specialised gear to take advantage of these advances.
Dozens, even hundreds, of tiny IoT sensors can be attached to existing equipment to monitor temperature, vibration and other key indicators to warn of impending problems.
A refrigerated delivery van would be able to alert its owner to a sudden rise in temperature. A machine in a factory could warn engineers that a key component is playing up, preventing a costly, potentially dangerous, breakdown – the digital age equivalent of a stitch in time.
Farming is another endeavour ripe for disruption using IoT technology.
At MWC a company called MyOmega showed off a system on trial in four German vineyards that uses sensors to measure the temperature and humidity of the soil as well as of the air. The upshot? Grapes that are able to tell the farmer via a mobile app when it’s time to pick them.
And Fujitsu demonstrated an internet-connected ankle monitor for cows that allows farmers to keep track of the movements and health of their herds and even predict milk yields.
For most business owners, however, it’s the host of new ways to accept payments for goods and services that promises to make the biggest impact in coming years.
Samsung caused a stir at MWC with an announcement that its mobile payments service, Samsung Pay, already has about 5million registered users who have have spent more than $500m (R7.8 billion) using the service since its release in September.
There’s no word yet on when it will reach South Africa.
Unlike rival services from Apple and Google, Samsung Pay works with traditional card payment terminals as well as the latest ones that have near field communication (NFC) chips.
MasterCard has some of the most weird and wonderful ways to pay, including fitness bands, smart watches and, even a smart ring.
The prize, if media buzz was anything to go by, goes to Selfie Pay, which, if it makes it out of beta testing, will let MasterCard clients pay for things by simply looking at their phones and blinking once.
The blink is designed to foil fraudsters trying to pay with a photo of someone.
Just how many of these technologies will arrive in SA soon is uncertain, but one this is clear: Local consumers are eager for cheaper and quicker ways to pay.
Giving this ability to customers is obviously in the interest of business owners and the Internet of Things offers the enticing prospect of delivering this in increasingly innovative ways over the coming months.