A FierceDeveloper ebrief. By: Colin Gibbs I

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1 FierceDeveloper Sponsored by: share: MAKING APPS FOR IOT - The IoT holds enormous promise for developers of apps for mobile devices and other platforms. But it s still in its infancy, and developers must consider many factors as they try to tap the market. By: Colin Gibbs I f the era of the smartphone can be described as a major global phenomenon which is accurate the emergence of the Internet of Things, or IoT, promises to be revolutionary. While the number of smartphone users worldwide is expected to surpass 2 billion sometime next year, Gartner predicts that the number of connected intelligent devices (not including smartphones and tablets) will reach 4.9 billion this year, surpassing a jaw-dropping 25 billion by Those gadgets already include things such as traffic sensors, healthcare monitors and residential thermostats, and the variety of IoT devices will only broaden. Juniper Research is even more bullish, forecasting 38.5 billion connected devices by And as the variety of connected devices broadens, connectivity will increasingly permeate nearly every facet of the way we live. Predictably, developers are rushing to meet ever-increasing demand for IoT apps. A recent survey by VisionMobile of more than 13,500 developers around the world found that 59 percent of mobile developers were involved in building apps for the IoT; even larger percentages of cloud and desktop developers are creating IoT apps. The firm estimates 4.5 million IoT developers are active today, and that number will surely swell as the market ramps up. IoT is a new frontier for developers, VisionMobile Senior Business Analyst Stijn Schuermans wrote in an ed response to questions from FierceWireless. It s new, so obviously the market is currently not as big and mature as mobile apps. But it certainly represents the biggest growth opportunity available. 1

2 COMPLEX NEW BUSINESS MODELS The majority of established business models for smartphone and tablet apps are relatively simple: Apps are distributed to end users through an app store, which takes a cut of all revenues and passes the remainder on to the developer/publisher. But apps created for the IoT often require much more complex business models because there are typically more players in the value chain. Device manufacturers, automakers or a variety of service providers could serve as the customer for IoT apps rather than the end users themselves, and those businesses may also serve as app distributors. IoT is a new frontier for developers. It s new, so obviously the market is currently not as big and mature as mobile apps. But it certainly represents the biggest growth opportunity available. VisionMobile Senior Business Analyst Stijn Schuermans When you think about it from a consumer s perspective, the (IoT) app itself isn t the service; the app is just a way of delivering that service, said Jack Kent, director of mobile for IHS Technology. Consumers won t be spending money to have an app; they ll be spending money to have a smart home or a connected car. The first thing (for developers) is identifying not who s the user of the service but who s the customer. Schuermans also noted that e-commerce is likely to play an important role in the creation of business models for IoT apps. E-commerce will account for $300 billion of the worldwide app economy, VisionMobile estimates, and the revenue from transactions on mobile devices is only just beginning to soar. As the IoT evolves, it will provide many more devices that can serve as connected points of sale. THE VALUE OF DATA The most valuable component of many business models for IoT apps will almost surely be data, however. The coming wave of connected devices will generate enormous amounts of information that can be used not only to deliver highly targeted marketing campaigns but also in a wide variety of other ways. IoT-based data from sensors in urban areas will help create smart cities that are cleaner, more secure and more efficient. Data from connected healthcare monitors will help drive clinical research. Connected devices in industry will help businesses decrease costs and maximize efficiency. The key for developers, according to Schuermans, will be finding ways to monetize all that data. Value in IoT is not created primarily from Internet or Things, but from making sense of data, he wrote. The most valuable apps in the future will mash up data from many different sources (including devices) and find exciting new uses for that. MAJOR CHALLENGES REMAIN Creating those complex business models will take time, however. And while the long-term opportunities for app developers in the IoT are nearly limitless, the market faces some other daunting hurdles in the short term. The IoT industry is still very young, and it has yet to produce the mature platforms, tools and standards that make it easy for developers to bring their wares to market. Also, developers face a mindboggling number of options as they build their apps: Not only must they choose which platforms to support and integrate with, they must deal with questions such as which technologies should be 2

3 used to connect their apps to other devices, and to the Internet. Finally, developers must effectively market their apps to end users, potential business partners or both. Because there are so many factors involved in the IoT app market, developers would be wise to focus on the specific segment they hope to reach rather than the broad spectrum of devices and apps, IHS s Kent said. I think for a lot of developers it s probably not helpful to think about IoT apps; I think that s too broad. It s really just a name for different types of devices, said Kent, noting that the term encompasses disparate markets such automotive, military, industry and healthcare. These are going to be very different types of development, with different types of customers. From a developer s perspective, IoT is kind of irrelevant. n Consumers won t be spending money to have an app; they ll be spending money to have a smart home or a connected car. The first thing (for developers) is identifying not who s the user of the service but who s the customer. Jack Kent, director of mobile for IHS Technology 3

4 NAVIGATING THE MAZE OF IOT PLATFORMS The market for IoT apps is bursting with a mind-boggling number of platforms, and it seems a new entrant comes online every week. There are several important factors for developers to consider as they try to tap this extremely promising market. by Colin Gibbs The Internet of Things may be in its infancy, but it already teems with an ever-increasing number of platforms and operating systems. In just the past few months, in fact, Google has introduced Brillo, Huawei has launched LiteOS, and Samsung has trotted out ARTIK. The newcomers joined an already-crowded field that includes at least three identically-branded IoT Platforms (from BlackBerry, Intel and Oracle), Apple s HomeKit, Google s Nest and AllJoyn, a protocol initiated by Qualcomm before going open source. And those are still just the tip of the iceberg. across the country this fall will be integrated with several notable IoT platforms and initiatives including Apple s home automation ecosystem, the Works with Nest program, and IFTTT, a web-based service designed to facilitate connections between apps. Notion will integrate with more systems and platforms as it evolves, Stone said, based largely on what its customers demand. Not all of these platforms work the same way or are designed to address all the same problems. But they highlight the need for new systems to support IoT devices, which unlike smartphones and tablets often require less power, don t have a screen, offer less processing power and are used in a wide variety of ways. Those features make many IoT devices illsuited for full-blown mobile operating systems such as Android and IoS. LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS But the overwhelming landscape of platforms is a huge challenge for developers looking to tap the emerging IoT market, said Jordan Stone, the chief software architect of Notion, a Denver-based startup preparing to launch a multi-function sensor for smart homes. There are so many people coming into this, there s very real fragmentation in the marketplace, said Stone. At the end of the day, yes, it s difficult to figure out who we want to integrate with, but what s really difficult is that it s the consumer who suffers. Notion s product which Stone said is scheduled to hit the shelves at a couple hundred Lowe s stores We re very much depending on the community, whether it s consumer who buy our product at Lowe s, or businesses, Stone said. We wanted to make sure that they are able to use our product for what they want to use it for. REACH AND SIMPLICITY It s too early to bet on who might build the god platform that could dominate the IoT, but it stands 4

5 to reason that the biggest players in mobile Apple and Google, namely demand the attention of any developer looking to reach a large audience. However, developers must also consider a wide variety of other factors as they approach the market: Samsung s Tizen, for instance, has much more of a presence in Southeast Asia than in North America. BlackBerry s QNX has gained impressive momentum in the connected car market. And Quirky s Wink and the Samsung acquisition SmartThings have made strides in the smart home by combining base product offerings and hubs that integrate third-party offerings. All of which illustrates the fact that developers must decide which geographic markets and sub-segments they want to focus on before choosing which platforms and technologies to build for. We re very much depending on the community, whether it s consumer who buy our product at Lowe s, or businesses. We wanted to make sure that they are able to use our product for what they want to use it for. Jordan Stone, the chief software architect of Notion Indeed, easy integration is another factor that should be high on the list of priorities for developers of IoT apps, not just because it minimizes the work required to add more functionality but it also can create a more seamless experience for the user. Many early entrants to the smart home space made integration relatively difficult for third parties, but they re beginning to open things up with offerings like APIs, said Matt Mendrala, director of interactive media at Rachio, which offers connected sprinkler systems that can work with Nest, IFTTT and Wink. It is changing pretty quickly, Mendrala said of the trend toward openness. A lot of people who are in higher-end homes, they ve already got platforms installed in their house that were there before the connected space (began to take off). They re proprietary, but they re starting to open up. Open up doesn t necessarily mean going open source or even using open standards, Mendrala noted, but rather creating a simpler path for third parties looking to integrate their wares. Open source is becoming a key theme in the evolution of the IoT, however dozens of open source options are available for IoT developers, from development tools to the AllJoyn OS to home automation software to integration tools. SECURITY IS PARAMOUNT Open standards will be especially important in addressing the security concerns that are already very real and that will grow as the IoT does. Chrysler Fiat recently recalled 1.4 million vehicles in the U.S. to install software that will prevent hackers from gaining control of basic vehicle functions in a move that federal officials said was the first of its kind. The development underscores the vulnerabilities that exist in a world of billions of connected devices particularly when some of those devices are moving at 70 m.p.h. on the highway, or are used to ensure we can access clean water. When I think of the Internet of Things, the thing that most concerns me is the Internet of threats, said Sri Ramanathan, CTO of Kony, which provides a mobile app development platform as well as backend services. I see security as this giant problem that s waiting to happen on a scale that s unprecedented. When it comes to the ubiquity and pervasiveness of the IoT, I think the security ramifications are very important now. So in choosing which platforms to build on, and which apps and technologies to integrate with, developers 5

6 should always be mindful of security concerns. For instance, technologies that are mature enough to have rapid, ongoing development are more likely to be patched quickly when security vulnerabilities arise, and those with widespread adoption are likely to be able to identify any vulnerabilities early. And the adoption of open standards especially on the server side will also be crucial for managing security concerns, Ramanathan said. From a technical perspective, one of the things we would like to see happen is the establishment of standards at the protocol level, Ramanathan said. I think one of the smart things the developer could do is to standardize on the server side of it. n Kony is the fastest-growing, cloud-based enterprise mobility solution company and an industry leader among mobile application development platform (MADP) providers. Empowering today s leading organizations to compete in mobile time, Kony can help your organization rapidly deliver multi-edge mobile apps across the broadest array of devices and systems, today and in the future. Kony offers ready-to-run, pre-built mobile apps to help organizations better engage with customers and partners, as well as increase employee productivity through mobile device access to company systems and information. Powered by Kony s industry-leading Mobility Platform, enterprises can design, build, configure, and manage mobile apps across the entire software development lifecycle, and get to market faster with a lower total cost of ownership. Whether you need to build or buy apps, Kony has a mobility solution ready to power your mobile-time enterprise. For more information, please visit 6