Of course, connectivity is the focus of the Internet of Things (IoT); But what if the user doesn’t know that the software has been upgraded, so that the device is out of control, leaving people-especially the elderly, patients or babies-in the cold? If the thermostat fails or the connection line is broken, the convenience of the Internet of Things device-for example, you can remotely adjust the temperature at home-will no longer make sense.
Matt Rogers, co-founder of Nest and vice president of engineering, said that the problem was a software update since December: "There was a bug in our software, which didn’t appear until about two weeks later;" So in January, the device was disconnected.
Richard Doherty, research director of Envisioneering Group, a market research organization, described the Nest lockout as "the worst consumer experience imaginable". Worst of all, most of the time: "consumers don’t know about the update, or even the purpose of the update may be to" repair "the device."
Consumers are increasingly concerned about security and privacy protection.
Consumers slowly but truly feel the risk of connectivity; Accenture, a consultancy, recently released the 2016 Digital Consumer Survey, which interviewed 28,000 consumers from 28 countries about their use of consumer electronic technology. The results showed that consumers were much more worried about the "security and privacy protection" of IOT devices than a year ago.
According to John Curran, managing director of Accenture, according to the survey: "Nearly 70% of consumers surveyed know that recent hacker attacks will use IOT devices, and 42% of respondents said that it will affect their decision whether to use or purchase IOT devices;" What is even more surprising is that many consumers said that if they can’t get the security guarantee, they would rather not use those IoT devices or services: "Although the proportion is only nearly 20%, it is already a very large number."
Consumers are increasingly aware of the security of Internet of Things devices.
Kent Goldman, a citizen of San Francisco, USA, waited for Nest technical support for more than an hour and didn’t respond. Finally, he couldn’t bear to go to the nearest hardware store and bought an old mechanical thermostat for 25 yuan.
Accenture’s survey puts the current consumer electronics industry in a dilemma. The results show that: "Consumer demand is in a downturn in many fields, including smart phones, tablet devices and notebook computers; Unfortunately, the growth rate of the new generation of devices realized by the Internet of Things is not enough to offset the decline of traditional product categories. "
It is worth noting that today’s consumer electronics suppliers can no longer rely on the growth of the smart phone market to boost themselves, and even the huge China market will not help. Curran said: "This thought-provoking view comes from the sharp decline in the willingness of China respondents to purchase smart phones."
In the global market, consumers’ willingness to purchase smart phones has also declined, with only 48% of consumers planning to buy smart phones in the next 12 months. China consumers’ willingness to purchase smart phones declined the most, with the proportion of interested buyers declining from 82% last year to 61%.
A survey of consumers’ willingness to purchase smart phones in various countries
In terms of IoT devices, Curran said that the good news is that the number of consumers who said they had "connection and use problems" last year decreased from 83% last year to 64%; The bad news is that two-thirds of the respondents still find it "difficult" to use Internet of Things devices. He pointed out: "Of course, we have seen progress, but we still have a lot of work to do."
Problems consumers will encounter when using Internet of Things devices.
How to boost consumer confidence?
If the Internet of Things devices are health care products, self-driving cars or smart home thermostats, consumers will usually worry about two things when using these new-generation consumer electronic products: one is that the devices are out of control, and the other is that the devices are inefficient. When asked how users of connected devices can avoid making consumers feel distrustful, Current simply replied: "Transparency."
He explained that first of all, consumer electronics suppliers need to be able to clearly explain: "What information will be collected, why it needs to be shared, and what benefits consumers can get from it;" Such issues should be communicated through clear statements, not complicated legal policies. Secondly, "consumers should be allowed to make their own decisions and take back control."
Third, "vendors should tell all the steps they are taking in privacy protection and security," Current said, and in the past, vendors have been reluctant to participate in such dialogues. If they are willing to change: "It should help to ease consumers’ doubts and boost their confidence."