The Invisible Logic

An increasing number of goods and services are benefiting from being connected.

By the year 2020 - 50 billion products will be online. Connected car systems are expected to grow from 45 million in 2011 to 210 million in just five years. While connected consumer electronics will see an even higher growth during this time.

So how could this transformation be made smooth for both operators and consumers?

Simple, make the subscription invisible. Bundle it with the product so it’s simply plug-and-play. Then, instead of pushing subscriptions, take a percentage of the selling price and add-on purchases.

The world's largest online bookstore did just that with their E-books. With 8 million active devices, e-books outsold hardcover books by three times in 2010.

And that was last year - now imagine the business connected products will be doing in 10 years time.