Of course, the topic as a whole is nothing new — in fact, it's been the most important phrase in technology for the better part of the decade — but this year's IoT discussions have a new focus: Commerce.
The maturation of mobile payment services combined with the proliferation of IoT-capable devices has created a perfect storm of innovation that's seeing our money going places it never could, both securely and conveniently. And thanks to innovators like MasterCard, the Internet of Things is moving from pure connectivity, to all-out functionality.
Consider this: When the world was first introduced to IoT, it was "enough" to fantasize about controlling objects around you, like programming your home's thermostat from your phone. But control only scratches the surface.
When MasterCard launched its Commerce for Every Device program last October, the payment innovator declared that any connected device — not just a smartphone or smartwatch — could become payments-enabled.
Leveraging the Internet of Things to make our lives better
Samsung's Family Hub refrigerator boasts a built-in commerce platform powered by MasterCard.From a purely technical perspective, adding mobile payment hardware (NFC) to a device is easy, which is why major tech companies have been doing it since 2007.
The challenge, however, was creating safe services, at scale, that could make payments as digital as the people who will use them.
MasterCard has answered the call through with a variety of mobile payment innovations, from its digital wallet service MasterPass, to contactless technologies that make transactions faster, to commerce platforms like Android PayTM, Apple PayTM and Samsung Pay, even advanced tokenization services.
The future of payments doesn't just live on a smartphone, though.
Through the Commerce for Every Device program, MasterCard is bringing payments capabilities to the new wave of connected devices, giving consumers the freedom to shop using the device or thing that is most convenient to them, with the highest level of security available.
For example, MasterCard and Coin recently banded together to offer payment support on wearable devices such as smartwatches and fitness trackers. MasterCard also partnered with Samsung's home appliance division to create the first smart refrigerator — unveiled at CES in January — that allows users to order and pay for groceries from the comfort of their own homes.
MasterCard calls this "co-innovating," furthering their own technology while allowing partner companies to move forward as well. And the philosophy looks promising for an Internet of Things-dominated future.
In fact, the portfolio of MasterCard innovations will soon extend beyond consumer electronics. Through a partnership with General Motors — which has already produced an NFC-enabled key fob, capable of touch-payments — MasterCard will be at the center of the "smart car" movement. The two companies are currently developing an in-car payment system that will allow motorists to pay for things using the dashboard console, the same way they would change the radio station.
For everything else IoT, there's MasterCard
The Internet of Things has reached an inflection point. In order to bring its full potential into the real world, devices need to push beyond simply connecting and start solving problems. Luckily, innovations from MasterCard will help bring commerce to connected devices and start making our lives easier without sacrificing security or mobility.So while the Mobile World Congress dazzles the tech world with shiny new hardware, the real story is what's happening under the hood.
NOTE CREDIT: http://mashable.com/2016/02/24/internet-of-commerce-brandspeak/?utm_cid=p-mas-tw-bc#AHWp3OYJhuq2