Why Your IoT Device Will End Up In My Closet Collecting Dust
Hardware companies inherently spend so much time focusing on building and perfecting their hardware that they often don’t spend enough time on the software that works with it. At the end of the day when you purchase something, you are looking for an outcome. In some cases, the hardware alone will deliver that outcome. But in the context of the Internet of Things, Smart Homes, and connected devices, the outcomes are achieved by a combination of Hardware + Software. If one is lacking, the entire result is affected.
Take for example the market for home security cameras. I bought two D-Link HD Wi-Fi Cameras to keep an eye on my house. I hadn’t ever owned any before, but I did my research to make sure the quality of the video was great. After using them for over a year, I am ready to throw them in the trash and purchase a Nest camera or an Amazon Cloud Cam. Don’t get me wrong, the video quality of the D-Link cameras is awesome, but the user experience is downright awful.
The most frustrating part has been the iOS app that interacts with the cameras: mydlinkHome. I am unable to view the live feed from my cameras about 50% of the time when using WiFi and nearly 100% of the time over cellular. The motion and sound detection features work okay, but there is no way to intelligently turn them on and off. Furthermore, in order to save the video, I would have to purchase an additional hardware device, hard drive, and manage it all myself. Now, 10 years ago, it would be a totally different story for this product. But in today’s market, there are enough pain points to cause me to not use the cameras at all. In fact, they sat in my closet for a good period of time after I had moved apartments because I did not feel it was worth it to put them up.
When competitors are offering features like face recognition to alert you if a stranger enters your home, which is driven by the software, how could my expectations not be shattered by my experience with the D-Link cameras? This is one singular experience of mine with a specific product, but it is a feeling that I have encountered using hundreds of hardware devices in recent years.
Understandably, it does take a lot of time to build and deliver great products. I firmly believe Nest established itself as a market leader because of its focus on outcomes for the user. Its familiar face feature, which notifies you if a stranger enters your house, is powered by software and is one of the biggest selling points of the cameras.
Ultimately, building great hardware will not be enough to keep your company afloat. Companies that want to compete in the Smart Home and Internet of Things space need to spend time understanding the needs of their users in order to build software that creates results and is enjoyable to use. User experience is vital in this day and age. Otherwise, your users will become disengaged and eventually stop using your product.
Find more of my writing at https://tim.engineering
