Core Technology Implementations and Partnerships Needed to Lead Transition from a Device-Centric to an Experience-Centric Consumer Market

The industry shift from devices and products to platforms, services, and experiences—such as Netflix’s transition from DVD rentals to streaming content services—or the adoption of hybrid models—like those from Apple and Microsoft—have already added competitive advantages while driving new revenue streams and increased perceived value for consumers. Consumer devices such as fitness trackers/smartwatches, true wireless headsets, smart home appliances, smartphones, and Virtual Reality (VR) headsets have evolved significantly in terms of hardware capabilities, preparing the ground for the building of new services, content, and applications that will run on top of these device types. For example, fitness trackers/smartwatches have evolved from being smartphone-tethered accessories that tell time and track steps to intelligent platforms that can monitor a user’s health vitals and connect with healthcare professionals. Similarly, smart home devices—with the assistance of smart home platforms—are becoming more intelligent, recognizing individuals and triggering personalized settings. There is no doubt that device price, technical capability, and features are important purchasing criteria for consumers, but the market is moving quickly to one where access to services and platforms, the ability to seamlessly connect disparate devices, and greater on-board intelligence in terms of automation are all becoming critical features.

The core technologies leading the transition to experience-focused platforms and the launch of new applications built on top of existing devices are Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning. These technologies are capable of assisting consumer devices—including wearables, smartphones, and smart home appliances—to leverage collected data, to learn from users’ behavior, and to become more intelligent and eventually be more autonomous in the decision-making process rather than being suggestive. For example, by leveraging AI and collecting sensor data (e.g., ECG), smartwatches can assist people with diabetes to monitor blood sugar levels without the need for continuous blood tests. Also, smart home platforms—with the assistance of AI and by taking into consideration a household’s daily habits and peak demand hours—can proactively control smart device settings to meet user preferences and become energy efficient. At the same time, advancements in voice engines will play an important role in enhancing user experience, unlocking new use cases and eventually encouraging consumers to use voice assistants more frequently and to perform more complex tasks. For example, remote fitness services can leverage voice assistants to provide a guided workout via smart speakers. Also, intelligent voice assistants—apart from being proactive and being an appointment reminder—will be able to directly schedule appointments for users (e.g., when a smart home appliance needs maintenance or repair). There is no doubt that voice has the potential to become the primary interface for the majority of consumer devices, especially those devices that do not have a screen or that are too small, thereby providing hand movement flexibility to users.

Another important driver is the introduction of Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) technology. Thanks to wider chipset availability and adoption across multiple consumer device segments, including smartphones, smartwatches, and smart home appliances, UWB technology not only precisely localizes devices but also assists devices in learning from users’ behaviors, therefore personalizing settings while ensuring data security. UWB implementation in devices has the ability to enable and develop new and unique use cases within the smart home, home entertainment, and automotive sectors while also instigating a variety of emerging applications. For example, smart thermostats equipped with UWB chips not only can recognize when someone is in the room but also can personalize temperature conditions by setting profiles when connected with a user’s UWB smartphone.

To develop experience-focused platforms and raise system awareness and automation, collaboration and input is needed from all involved parties, including device manufacturers, app developers, platform providers, and industry players, such as those from the healthcare, utility, and entertainment sectors. At the same time, telecom providers can play an important role in the shift to a services and experiences environment, thanks to their large user base (in terms of cellular-connected devices—including smartphones, smartwatches, smart home devices, and augmented reality/VR smart glasses in the future) and broadband connectivity. Telecom operators can design platforms that are able to connect heterogenous smart devices that exchange information and provide value to the end user.

Given the numerous and valuable data that will be generated from connected devices, data security will have a vital role to play in this journey to a service-focused consumer market. Digital technologies—such as blockchain, on-device and connectivity encryption, and edge processing—along with data regulations (global and regional) are some of the necessary security solutions that need to be applied.

All in all, the transformation of the consumer market from device-centric to experience- and service-centric will unlock new revenue opportunities through partnerships and integration among devices, services, and apps. Additionally, the new consumer lifestyle expected to develop after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic is supposed to increase demand for services and smart-connected devices as a direct result of remote working and learning while growth in home exercise and home entertainment will remain. Consequently, consumer electronics and device vendors need to build ecosystems that offer consumers flexibility and seamless experiences and that combine hardware quality, platform-agnostic content, and cloud services.