WTH is IOT?

I've been trying to wrap my arms around IOT and how it relates to online advertising.  Dug up an old Forbes article written by Jacob Morgan that I found to be a pretty solid explanation.  Essentially, anything that has an on/off switch connected to the Internet.  Simply stated, that includes connections of people to people, people to things and things to things.  That's really it.

According to Gartner, in 2015 there will be 4.9 Billion "Connected Things".  By 2020, that number is expected to rise to over 25 Billion "Things", (Cisco says something closer to 50 Billion).  Libelium has a great info-graphic on how this looks/acts in a "smart world".  Think about the sheer amount of data involved here, (note to self, invest in data companies).  So, how does this relate to online advertising?

A Mediapost commentary written by Justin Smith had a pretty good example of how this can work, "Let’s imagine Jawbone captures data that you pumped out 50 dumbbell curls at the gym. They now know where and how long you were working out. As an advertiser this is a perfect trigger to hit that consumer with a communication for your workout recovery drink".  This kind of personal interaction always reminds me of the movies, Total Recall (1990) with Arnold Schwarzenegger or Minority Report (2002) with Tom Cruise.  In those movies, the actors are served up personalized digital ads in Real-Time.  Seemed like "science fiction" at the time, but the ads calling out to Tom Cruise’s character in Minority Report are actually based on existing technology, namely retinal scanners and real-time advertising.  Doesn't really sound like science fiction any more, does it?

The Mediapost piece ends with what I think makes the most sense for how we can take advantage of this, "To take full advantage of these opportunities, advertisers need to take stock of their ability to create and distribute compelling content for the Internet of Things, beginning with redefining what an advertisement is. We’ll need to think more like product designers and technologists by incorporating the user experience into the creative process to create brand narratives that can persist in the overlap between devices and human behavior."

What are your thoughts?