The Internet of Things will soon make almost every object that you can see and use, from your car to your refrigerator, ready to be connected to the Internet and accessible via your Smartphone. Although it can be said that such services are available already, the Internet of Things will help to further simplify the process by having all these unique services connect to one cloud.
What Does This Mean For App Developers?
The answer is simple: Apps can be developed for virtually every household appliance. Apps can be developed for the kitchen to help keep track of what food items are in stock or to help keep a check on your electrical products, such as bulbs and air-conditioners, to aid in minimizing waste and maximizing efficiency.
Apps can also be developed for various other services beyond home. Health and fitness related apps can measure the amount of exercise one has undergone, the sleep one has taken, etc. Apps for a car could include a manager, to aid in finding space in a crowded parking lot or to avoid traffic jams. The possibilities are endless!
If you are looking at a deeper understanding, let’s put this in perspective. It’s easier for hardware developers to create the hardware for IoT. However, it isn’t that easy for software and app developers. They need to use technologies that blend in and create a user experience that sticks as well.
What Are The Difficulties In Using IoT?
As it has been mentioned, simply connecting a device to the Internet does not make it the Internet of Things. Since there isn’t one single cloud, this creates a problem. Every device now has its own, solitary cloud and thus the sharing of data between the various clouds becomes a logistical problem. If one cloud cannot communicate with another, they cannot benefit from the sharing of data.
For understanding more, we need to understand the importance of cloud.
This should be the first hurdle to be crossed. When every device can connect to one cloud and exchange data, each device gets smarter, and the more data the cloud has, the more beneficial it is for the user.
Tools for the app developers are also becoming more streamlined, thanks to the swift adoption of HTML5 as the most used language for app development. This adoption goes a big way towards creating cross-device apps, and thereby helping in the exchange of data.
With every new step that technology takes, every developer is keen to develop that new “killer app” that can skyrocket them to success, and with 25 billion devices forecasted to be connected to the Internet by 2020, the time is ripe for app developers to take advantage of the surge that the Internet of Things has taken!
