Way back, I worked at Telenor R + D together with a clever technology guy called PÃ¥l Malm. We worked on a large project looking at how the internet would change our lives. At that time, PÃ¥ls hobbyhorse was how internet connections from things (that think) communicating data to each other, would eclipse internet connections from people using terminals and would accelerate from there onwards. Examples were thermostats, road signs, fridges, cars and even shoes. At that time, a lot of people thought that this was a strange thought, and not worth thinking about.
Well, today, PÃ¥l can celebrate and say told you so. Gizmodo, announced that the two lines have now crossed. New connections from things are now far outnumbering connections used by people, and PÃ¥l, it did happen quite quickly.
I am not just writing this for nostalgic reasons. I think that with all that data zinging around, there must be incredible opportunities to mash up some very interesting services. Linking data from objects together with data from organisations and data from people offers an incredible potential for new services. Will this be the next big thing, and who will make the breakthrough app? I’m looking forward to it!