The “Internet of Things,” which refers to the billions of devices that are expected to be connected to each other and to the Internet, is a catchphrase that’s hard to escape these days. Even network storage maker Cisco has predicted some 25 billion devices will be connected by 2015, and 50 billion by 2020. But at the IFA consumer electronics trade show in Berlin this week, what’s equally hard to escape is the fact that, for now at least, the new devices being rolled out are mainly designed to connect with other new devices made by the same company. Most of the major consumer electronics companies rolled out or highlighted devices that only ‘talk’ to devices by the same manufacturer. Giants such as Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Bosch, and Siemens are betting on a world of connected appliances where toasters ‘talk’ to kettles and ovens know what food their nearby refrigerators are going to give them.
Read the full story at The Wall Street Journal’s Digits Blog.