Introduction

In the era of Internet of Things (IoT), more and more innovative technologies and services as well as corresponding business strategies and models are being developed by dynamic companies. These companies with focuses on smart city, smart home, smart gadgets and etc. are creating more disruptive ways to bring IoT products to businesses and end users. Based on Gartner, by 2020, internet-connected things will outstrip humans in number with a ratio of 4-to-1[1], creating new dynamics for marketing, sales and customer services. This indeed reflects the crucial characteristic of IoT products – small-volume but large-variety production, leading to more than 25 billion IoT devices with a compound annual growth rate of 35%[2]. In the followed sections, some selected innovative applications based on existing products in the market are introduced.

Exemplify Disruptive Innovations

In IoT world, internet-connected things are becoming more intelligent, they are even able to be given capabilities to make decisions due to maturity of sensors, ready-to-use cloud services and data analytic technologies. In the following examples, “Things” themselves, acting as customers or actuators, represent new opportunities for all types of enterprises with respect to boosting revenue and efficiencies. It drives enterprises as well to redefine new relationships among people, businesses and things.