Waiting For The World To Change

(This post is by guest blogger Dave from California)

So when will manufacturers finally turn their products into platforms?

My Kenmore Elite refrigerator has stood proudly in my kitchen for five years, but it still doesn’t know a thing about me.  

(nor does it realize it is under new ownership; it came with the house I bought)

A week ago, my cable company (Xfinity, fka Comcast) brought me a new docsis 3.0 modem.  It’s much larger than my old modem, a one-foot tall tower with white UPC code stickers on both the back, and the bottom.  It appears to be made by a company called ARRIS, in China.

In order to implement new VOIP phone service through the modem, I had to call the Technical Department, who told me I needed to speak with the Activations Department.   This transaction required 23 minutes.  Each person separately verified my name; the phone number I was calling from; the phone number I wanted to activate; my address; and the last four digits of you know what.

It occurred to me that this activation work could have been done entirely through the magic of a simple QR code, in about 30 seconds.

I could have scanned a code on the modem and triggered a live session with a server to conduct the activation, like the one that now happens with my renewed credit card.   

And even if I’d never scanned a QR code before, this vendor could have simply emailed me instructions to download a QR reader, or, better yet for them, to download their app.  The marketing value of getting me to download their app is so great, they could have afforded to provide me with a financial incentive to do it.  

60% of the USA has a smartphone, and that number is rising.  An un-internet-connected phone will soon become an endangered species.  

I found that Linksys, Netgear and Motorola all offer modems of this kind, and wondered how they do activations.  To say nothing of the hundreds of manufacturers of other stuff sitting in our homes that could offer me the chance to interact with them. But instead, I have a drawer full of paper installation guides, warranties and product registrations, and zero relationship with any of them.

The internet of things?  Still waiting.