Lessons In Monetizing IoT From Apple

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Apple turned the mobility game on its head eight years ago when it released the first iPhone, and further revolutionized the IT industry with its subsequent product launches. While the company has held the innovation reins in the mobility industry over the past decade, Apple could also teach the channel a thing or two about making money in the burgeoning Internet of Things space.

Karl Whitelock, a co-founder of the market information and research firm Stratecast, cited Apple’s early deployment of products with a built-in connected software ecosystem.

’It wasn’t just the device, if you recall -- iTunes had been around for a while,’ Whitelock told the audience at a recent IoT event. ’So there was a supporting ecosystem.’

Before Apple’s 2010 launch of the iPad, tablets had failed to grasp mainstream demand.

’What made the iPad successful was it was built on everything else, but then it added a new element,’ Whitelock said.

Apple’s success in monetization came through its brilliant pricing plan for iTunes: starting off the price for a song at 99 cents.

Whitelock said everyone can take a page out of Apple’s book when it comes to engaging customers in IoT: It comes down to building out a full ecosystem for new products and a desirable, effective pricing plan.