Why can't I get a cold beer when it's hot outside?

I attended a lunch today hosted by Sweden Mobile Association in Kista Science Tower where Emily Green, CEO of Yankee Group, presented and fueled a very interesting discussion among all participants.



My general takeaway from the lunch was how I can get my fridge to know when to order more beer so I always have cold beer when it is sunny outside. And barbecue of course to feed the hungry.



It seems like a stupid question, why would anyone care. Why not fill up the fridge with beer and drink it when the sun is shining (just open your eyes, stupid, if it's bright, the sun is shining, no need for complex solutions to simple problems ...)? However the interesting fact is that with more and more gadgets getting connected wirelessly this is exactly what can happen. My fridge will know what I have in it through the use of RFID tags. Since the fridge itself is connected someone (like me or my shopping agent) can check what it contains. Mashing that up with a weather forecast service and you can consider the beer as cooling down already.



Generalizing a little bit everything that can be empty makes sense to connect. Then someone can use that information to act. The fridge is just one example.



So what's in it for an operator? Well, what if they provided the fridge with this connectivity and offered it as a RESTful service for you or anyone you trust to utilize? Then they can charge not for the connection itself but rather for the possibility of letting you or your agents to innovate on this information.



The key is that the operator opens up their closed environments and creates the foundations for such unknown innovation. Let the spirit of the internet cross-fertilize with the seamless always-accessible infrastructure from Anywhere.



I kind of like the thought of a cold beer ...