Shouldn’t it be able to sense when you’ve gone to sleep?

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About a week ago I was reading David Pogue’s NY Times review of Jawbone’s Up wristband, a $100 health monitor you wear on your wrist – 24/7 – to track things such as sleep patterns, exercise habits, calories burned, and more. While the device itself is both a marvel of sensor technology and a (very) early-days preview of What’s To Come, what stopped me in my tracks was his casual assessment of the device’s lack of intelligence in one particular area: sensing the wearers sleep state.

“You have to press the metal button on the end to let it know that you’re going to bed, though, which is a little odd. Shouldn’t it be able to sense when you’ve gone to sleep?”

It happens I agree completely with Mr. Pogue’s comment; my wife and 16 year-old daughter agreed the lack of wireless and the button-pushing is a little lame. It’s this implication that should capture the attention of companies everywhere – not just Mr. Pogue’s opinion, but that of a suburban mom and connected teen: Shouldn’t it be able to sense when you’ve gone to sleep?

After all, our phones already tell us what sales occur around us, and which friends are close by. In fact, many of us just tell our phones what we want and they comply, by setting appointments, finding contacts or digging up information. And we’re starting to expect our customer experiences to be just as intuitive and seamless, no matter what “channel” we use to interact with a company.

In this context, the premise of the talking, listening and apparently “intelligent” television discussed by Bruce Kasanoff in his November 8th story “Mommy, Why Won’t the TV Answer Me?” doesn’t sound at all like fiction. It sounds like the reality that companies should be scrambling to create in their industry, before a competitor does.

As a result, “Bob, why can’t our ____________ be smarter?” is a question you should be asking today. Because very soon, this level of embedded intelligence and seamless customer experience will not just be expected but demanded by increasingly smart, decreasingly patient and highly connected customers across all industries and customer segments – including yours.

Republished with author's permission from original post.

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