Smart technology could be the saviour of sunburnt Irish skin as almost half of Irish adults (50%) forget to put sunscreen on when in the sun, and over one fifth of parents (22%) forget to put sunscreen on their children. It could also help to avoid holiday stress for the one in five
(20%) Irish people who have had their luggage lost or stolen when travelling.
– Vodafone ‘Smart Summer’ concepts showcase the mass-market potential of IoT ahead of a new generation of very low-cost, low-power and 10+ year battery life devices which are set to transform how people work, live and relax.
Vodafone today announced it has developed a suite of Internet of Things (IoT) concepts which include connected ‘Smart Summer’ holiday essentials to help protect against UV rays, keep children safe on the beach and locate lost luggage.
The Vodafone ‘Smart Summer’ concept bikini and men’s swim shorts are equipped with UV sensors that track exposure to sunlight throughout the day. A smartphone app notifies the user when they have had too much exposure to UV light. The swimwear also contains a small vibrating alert built into the waistband and strap. The ‘Smart Summer’ child’s sun hat contains a UV sensor plus a low-powered Vodafone SIM and tracking device which sends a warning message to the parent’s smartphone if the child wanders beyond a pre-determined distance. The ‘Smart Summer’ suitcase includes embedded tracking technology to enable the owner to geolocate missing luggage via their smartphone.
The ‘Smart Summer’ concept designs were developed as a pan-European online survey commissioned by Vodafone from YouGov found that nearly half (48%) of European respondents from the UK, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Greece and Italy have forgotten to apply sunscreen on holiday with three-quarters (76%) saying they would be more likely to cover up if they had received an automated alert when they have been exposed to UV rays for a long period of time. 14% have personally lost luggage or had it stolen and 16% have had this happen to a travel companion.
When surveyed Irish respondents revealed that:
- Almost one in four (39%) would like health-related wearable technology of the future to prompt them when they’re at risk of sunburn;
- Almost three quarters (72%) are concerned about the damage that UV rays can do to their skin
- Half (50%) have forgotten to put sunscreen on when on holiday in the sun
- Over one fifth (22%) have forgotten to put sunscreen on their children when on holiday in the sun
- Over eight in ten (83%) say they are more likely to apply sunscreen or cover up if they receive an alert to tell them they’ve been exposed too much
- One in five (20%) have had their luggage lost or stolen when travelling.
The YouGov study found a strong level of consumer interest in IoT-enabled wearable technology designed to help enhance health and wellbeing and keep families safe. The pan-European study asked the opinions of 8,653 people across Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK.
- When benchmarked against the average of European respondents, interest in the Irish population in health-related wearable technology was higher than other respondents. 56% of Irish respondents would like the technology to feature blood pressure monitoring, compared with just 40% of German respondents and 38% of those in the Netherlands (50% European average)
- Over half (51%) felt they would like the technology to monitor their stress levels. Only 25% of those from the Netherlands said the same, and just 24% from Germany. (40% European average)
- Almost one third (30%) said they wanted wearable technology of the future to analyse air quality. Yet Spain (41%), Italy (48%) and Greece (38%) rated this much higher.; (33% European average)
- While almost half (48%) wanted to monitor their hydration. Only 18% in the Netherlands were interested in this.(36% European average)
Lutfu Kitapci, Vodafone Ireland, Consumer Director said: ”These concept designs showcase how far the Internet of Things could theoretically take us in the very near future. We know that connected products have already made our day-to-day lives easier when it comes to entertainment and lifestyle functionality. Now companies in every industry are already embracing IoT technologies and see these as critical to their future. Vodafone’s Smart Summer concepts showcase the very real and tangible benefits IoT could potentially provide to our health and well-being.”
The Internet of Things revolution
Vodafone’s ‘Smart Summer’ concept designs use current IoT technologies to demonstrate potential applications for network intelligence in everyday consumer devices. The bikini, swim shorts, sun hat and suitcase contain embedded hardware with a battery life of around one week. By the end of 2017, a new generation of IoT devices will reach the market, adding even greater momentum to the connected devices revolution. The hardware within ‘Narrowband IoT’ devices will be ultra low-power (typical battery life will exceed 10 years on a single charge), small, very cheap (typically costing no more than a few euros each) and will use very little wireless bandwidth – recent research found that Vodafone’s global IoT networks will be able to support more than one million devices simultaneously per square kilometre.
Separate research from Vodafone recently indicated that IoT is already entering the mainstream for many companies. More than three-quarters of 1,100 enterprise and public-sector executives surveyed across 17 countries said that taking advantage of IoT technologies will be critical for future success, while more than half of consumer technology companies said they intended to bring new IoT products and services to market within the next two years.
