The world’s top mobile hardware and software manufacturers and experts are gathering in Barcelona again for the Mobile World Congress. And while new hardware — like the sharp new Samsung S7, the futuristic LG G5 and the Samsung Gear VR — makes news around the globe, the real story of #MWC16 is the Internet.
Sure, you’ve probably heard this story before. But now the story is even bigger
“The Internet is becoming an invisible fabric—like air—that enables all the services we’ve come to depend on—from communications to banking to driving in the right direction,” Wired‘s Jessi Hempel wrote.
The irony of having more Internet in our lives is that it feels like less Internet.
“The more our world becomes connected, the more we stop noticing it altogether,” Hempel explained. “Things just work. This morning, I called a cab (Halo), transferred money to my partner (Venmo), read up on trends (Twitter), and checked in with my editor (Slack)—all in about ten minutes.”
The real question is not if the Internet will become a part of our home life but how quickly it does. The Internet of Things has been a rare tech development that has been driven by commercial and government adoption and not consumers — many of whom got laptops and iPhones for personal use before their work ever offered them one.
“Cities like Los Angeles and San Antonio are deploying connected street lighting to cut down on waste and make streets safer for drivers,” Mike Feibus wrote in USA Today. “And companies like GE and Harley-Davidson are connecting factory equipment to decrease downtime by predicting equipment failure, and to anticipate heating and cooling needs to cut costs and improve comfort.”
But that doesn’t mean home users aren’t picking on the technology. Feibus notes there are 2.9 billion home IoT units versus 1.6 billion commercial devices. But that includes Smart TVs, gaming units and home theaters. Consumers are not yet migrating in droves to Internet-connected “home automation, energy and security devices.”
Why are consumers so wary?
It could be the same reason that U.S. Armed Forces isn’t rushing to get on IoT despite the obvious strategic advantages — security.
An F-Secure survey last year found that 7 of 10 people were worried about their “smart home” devices being hacked. And poll after poll says that consumers worry about IoT security, which is probably why they stick to products that seem like natural upgrades to audio-visual equipment they already own but aren’t branching out more than that — despite the potential to save time, money and lives by making homes smart.
We want to help change this. That’s why we’re at Mobile World Congress to introduce people to SENSE.
SENSE is a brand new security and privacy product designed to protect people, smart homes, and all of the Internet-connected devices people use to get online.
What does SENSE protect? Everything. That is everything in your home that connects to the Internet.
It’s the device you need to have the confidence to begin automating your home. And we want to give you the chance to see for yourself that it works.
I got 99 problems but 6 months of Freedome and 50% off Sense preorder ain't one. Come get yours at #MWC16 H6B60 pic.twitter.com/DXh0Y8JIo9
— F-Secure SENSE (@FSecure_SENSE) February 22, 2016
If you’re at #MWC16, we hope to meet you so you can meet SENSE. If not, you can get a good look at SENSE here.
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