revolutionize your business with aot.original

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Introduction

01. Your Thing Becomes AwareThe app taps into the user’s smartphone sensors, providing location, action andinteraction.

02. Your Thing Grows SmarterThe app goes on the World Wide Web to access relevant, contextual data.

03. Your Thing Goes SocialThe app taps into the user’s social networks.

04. Your Thing Becomes InteractiveThe app “talks” with your users.

05. Your Thing Gets PersonalThe app is designed specifically for its owner’s needs, and not only for yourthing.

06. Your Thing Reports BackThe app tells you everything about your users, permanently transforming theway you view and manage your business.

07. Your Thing Constantly ImprovesThe app and the thing change, adapt and gain more functions over time.

08. Your Thing Does the Selling For YouThe app now enables you to sell consumables, services, functions and content.

Conclusions

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tion provide?” And so we ask ourselves,can an app be more than just a remote

control?

This white paper will explore some of themore exciting possibilities the world ofAoT has brought to life. For your readingease, we will refer to a thing as a device ora connected device. We decided to use arather mundane thing, an air-conditioning(AC) unit, to illustrate the revolutionaryimpact that apps can have on connecteddevices. The principles illustrated usingthis example are easy to grasp and areapplicable to many manufacturers sellingdifferent physical things.

Clearly, the mobile app will replace thephysical buttons and levers on your de-vice and your device’s remote if it has one.But, this is only the beginning! What will

change your business forever is whatthe app will do when it evolves beyond a

simple remote.

If your company sells a thing or device andyou perceive your mobile app merely as a

way of controlling and adjusting some ofits settings, think again. You are probablymissing out on some of the more signifi-cant advantages of placing a mobile devicebetween your thing and your users. Thesefeatures will fundamentally transform thefunction, surroundings and lifetime valueof your thing forever.

Derived from the much-hyped Internet ofThings (IoT), comes the world of AoT, orApps of Things. AoT is all about new waysto connect: connecting people to theirthings, things with their surroundings, andmore significantly, connecting you with allthose people, your users.

A common problem with much hyped newtrends is figuring out what’s in it for you.

Among the questions that any companyselling a physical thing asks itself thesedays are: “What does turning our deviceinto a connected device mean for our busi-ness?”; “What benefits can this connec-

How Apps Are Revolutionizing the

World of Things


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Turn the AC on when the users are on their way home, turn it off when they leave.

Increase the power and lower the temperature when the user returns from a jog.

Allow the user to scan a QR code on the unit to access explanations about specific functions.

The Connected AC Unit

of orientation through the compass and

tell you where the user is going and howfast via the accelerometer. It can also gainaccess to the mobile device’s camera,microphone and speaker in order to “see”and “hear” the user’s environment.

Remember that all these tools are at yourdisposal in the world of AoT, and you canuse them to create a better experience,

enhance functionality and offer benefits toyour users.

Putting a mobile device between your user

and your thing grants you access to allof your user’s actions and surroundings.Through the mobile device, your thing cancommunicate in real time with your usersand respond to them. This communicationcan improve users’ experiences and offeradded benefits from the very same thing.

The app can learn and interact with near-

by devices using its built-in Bluetooth andWi-Fi connections. It can determine theuser’s location via the GPS, get a sense

Your Thing Becomes AwareThe app taps into the user’s smartphone sensors,providing location, action and interaction.

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The AC knows the current temperature and can adjust itself automatically.The AC can access the weather forecast for the coming days and can prepare a climate planaccordingly.The AC app can present weather-related or other information, such as pollution levels, to the user.


app that doesn’t have a server side. Apps

constantly transmit and receive data fromtheir server, and a significant part of thebusiness logic is implemented there. Thismakes apps more dynamic, responsiveand content-rich. The app-to-server con-nection creates an independent, self-sus-tained ecosystem between the user, dataon the web and the thing.

Think of a connected device that has ac-

cess to the weather forecast, pollutionlevels and recent news, or has constantaccess to content that you can dynamicallychange in real time. This data enables theapp to offer higher value to the user andconstantly improve their experience.

In the world of AoT, your physical thing is

now connected to the internet, allowing itaccess to the vast abundance of informa-tion available on the Web. The remote control approach some man-ufacturers take when designing an app fortheir thing focuses on the direct commu-nication between the two. Limiting yourapp to simple remote control capabilitiesleaves an immeasurable amount of un-

tapped potential. AoT must offer muchmore. Utilizing third party data available on theinternet, your thing will grow smarter. To-day, it’s virtually impossible to think of an

Your Thing Grows SmarterThe app goes on the World Wide Web to accessrelevant, contextual data.

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Share information and promote yourself directly from your app: “It’s freezing outside, but nice

and warm in here.”

Offer your user to share a discount with five selected friends.


now be shared with their social networks.When accessing your users’ social net-works, you add value not only for your us-

ers, but also for yourself, the manufactur-er. You can actually control and design theway your thing is exposed to your users’family, friends and entire social network.It’s a completely new way to reach out to avaluable target audience of potential cus-tomers, with at least one strong advocate:the person who already purchased and isusing your thing!

The reason that most people panic whenlosing their mobile device is not becauseof lost internet connectivity or their inabil-

ity to make a call or send a text message.It’s because their whole social life is em-bedded into their personal mobile device.Contact lists, Facebook friends, recentchats and communications with theirfamily and friends all take place on theirmobile devices. In the world of AoT, yourusers’ entire social infrastructure is withinyour reach.

Relevant properties of your connected de-vice or your users’ interactions with it can

Your Thing Goes SocialThe app taps into the user’s social networks.

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If the AC has been working for a long time and the temperature in the room isn’t changing, you

can send a notification saying, “Maybe you should check if all the windows are closed?”

Time to clean the filters? Guide your user with an interactive video or animation.


control the exact timing of the communi-cations and address users’ specific needsor business requirements. You can set

push or app notifications triggered by cer-tain events, such as your users reaching aspecified usage goal, or you can increaseretention by reminding users of some fea-tures or functions that they haven’t usedin a while.

Your connected device turns your formerone-sided communication with your usersinto a two-way street. This means you can

now plan and tailor your conversationswith them. These communications no lon-ger have to reflect a one-size-fits-all ap-proach. You can fine tune and target yourmessages according to a user’s location,age, gender and usage patterns. You can

Your Thing Becomes InteractiveThe app “talks” with your users.

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You should have a different AC application for iOS and Android users.

The app can be different for adults and children. Children who can’t read will be presented with

symbols, simplifying their usage.

The app can remember the preferences of each user.

Its operation can be as simple as having a big button that says: “Make it pleasant” or “I’m cold.”


ultimate interface, think about your users first,

not about your thing.

Through their mobile device, you learn yourusers’ gender, age, location and many otherpersonal properties. Furthermore, you alsoknow their physical locations, current time,temperature outside and a lot of other en-vironmental properties, as we already dis-cussed. Your AoT remote should be highly per-sonalized and change according to your users,their environment and their context. One more

important element to look at is the user’sdevice. Because iOS and Android users expectdifferent user experiences and user interfaces,you should seriously consider developing anindividual app for each platform to meet those

expectations.

Unlike a traditional remote control or the

physical buttons used to operate your thing,building an app in the world of AoT is as farfrom one-size-fits-all as you can imagine.

Consider your user. Think about the main usecases that you want to address. These factorswill determine your app’s features, functionsand user interface, not the other way around.Manufacturers have invested considerablethought in creating traditional physical inter-faces and remote controls, because of the lim-

itation of providing a one-size-fits-all product.You also should invest a considerable amountof thought, but for the exact opposite reason:you should cater to each user individually!The challenge lies in the fact that a mobiledevice provides virtually endless possibilitiesfor building an interface. When building the

Your Thing Gets PersonalThe app is designed specifically for its owner’sneeds and not only for your thing.

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You know at what time your users turn the AC on and off.

You know to what temperatures AC units are being set across the world.

You know which features and functions users use or don’t use, and how often.

You can show your users how efficient they are compared to other nearby users.

The user can share favorite settings with other users.


tools, you can follow their every move and usagepatterns, even in real time!

This can potentially revolutionize the way you de-velop your product’s roadmap and devise your go-to market strategies. Every user and every movecan be closely followed and analyzed. Big datatools and processes can be applied to help you usethis newly available data to adjust and improve theproduct in ways never before possible.

When information from connected devices anduser interaction is aggregated on your server side,

you can also share it with your users, thus offeringthem additional value. You can tell them how theyrank compared to other, anonymous users, or cre-ate different collaboration or knowledge-sharingstrategies. The wisdom of the crowds is a big partof the AoT world.

Physical devices are manufactured, boxed, andshipped to distributors. They are then sold toresellers and finally to anonymous end users. Allthe manufacturer receives are sales figures, whichusually arrive with some delays and inaccuracies.The only way a manufacturer can learn moreabout their target markets and specific users is torun expensive market research which suffers fromlimited accuracy and reliability.

The world of AoT and connected devices radical-ly transforms these traditional approaches. Formanufacturers that decide to convert their device

into a connected one, AoT is a true game chang-er. The users are no longer anonymous and themanufacturer can now have a name, phone num-ber, e-mail address and physical address. Today,with AoT, you can know so much more about yourusers: their gender, age and numerous additionalcharacteristics. Furthermore, by utilizing analytic

Your Thing Reports BackThe app tells you everything about your users, permanently

transforming the way you view and manage your business.

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Improve the AC app over time with better user interface and experience.

Update the app and add enhancing capabilities, such as a timer or night mode.

Update your AC firmware to make it better, more efficient.


time. Since a significant part of the thing’s

experience is encapsulated in the app,the world of AoT allows you to correct andchange your thing on the go, maximizingthe value you can now deliver to your us-ers in ways that simply were not possiblebefore.

The days of fixing bugs and problems only

in the next batch of devices are over. If youproperly design your connected device,you can run a firmware update, enhancethe device’s functionality, add features,change usage flow and even change theuser experience and interface in real

Your Thing Gets BetterThe app and the thing change, adapt and gain morefunctions over time.

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Users can contact the technical support directly from the app.

Users can unlock functions, such as a timer or night mode, for a fee.

Create a marketplace for AC app themes.


or freemium models. The world of AoT

brings these monetization possibilities tothe realm of physical, now-connecteddevices. The fundamental business modelof the one-time purchase or transactioncan be substituted with a long-term rela-tionship subscription model, utilizing thefact that you can add benefits, such ascontent or additional functions, on the go.

Traditional app developers, such as soft-

ware companies, especially in the gamingindustry, have devised, improved and per-fected innovative mobile app monetizationmodels. Many have drastically changedtheir go-to-market strategies and busi-ness models to accommodate and takeadvantage of new possibilities.

Subscription models and in-app purchaseupgrades have replaced high-initial costs

Your Thing Does the Selling for YouThe app now enables you to sell consumables,services, functions and content.

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The AoT revolution is all about enhancing physical devices by connecting them to the

world of their users via users’ always on and personal smartphones. As we have demon-

strated in this paper, AoT is far more than a substitute for a physical interface or re-

mote. AoT actually taps into the environment, accessing data on the internet, entering

the users’ social worlds and creating its own social network. It changes your business

by sending you complete and accurate information in real time. By enabling you to react

with tailored messages and device changes, AoT opens a new dimension of commercial

possibilities. We hope that this paper has inspired and expanded the horizons of people,and will help them build better products, better apps and better experiences that will

change our lives for the better.


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Zemingo Group leads the emerging field of Apps of Things (AoT), providing design, devel-

opment & analytics services for enterprises, turning devices into connected devices.

Zemingo Group was founded in 2008 and rapidly grew into the largest and most success-

ful mobile agency in Israel, servicing clients worldwide. Over the years, Zemingo pro-

fessionals designed, developed and brought to market more than 500 applications in all

leading categories including: video, security, social networks, games and utilities.

Working with some of the most cutting edge companies Zemingo Group has accumulat-

ed significant experience in the world of Apps of Things (AoT) - applications that trans-

form physical things into connected devices. Leveraging its unique and broad experience

in this specific and budding niche, Zemingo Group now positions itself as a global lead-

ing AoT mobile agency.

Contact us to start revolutionizing your business

Contact Us

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