What Fitbit and Nest Are Doing With Your Data
Our language changes in funny ways. When I first heard the word "data" it was pronounced by IBM people with an a sound in it like "hat." Then sometime in the 90's it became DAY- tah. Every once in a while someone comes along to remind us that data is the plural of datum. Now, I don't know what anything of these little bits of datum have to do with anything else, but here is the story:
Photo by Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images
Companies like Fitbit and Nest Labs have realized there’s a lucrative
business in selling the data collected by wearable devices and smart
home automation devices.
The technology can be used for much more than turning down the
temperature in your home or tracking how many calories you’ve burned
today.
It can be utilized to address larger problems involving health care and power consumption, as Forbes details in a new report.
Nest Labs, for instance, has built a secondary business in working
with electric companies to manage power consumption in the homes of some
of its users, Forbes reported. Nest has already partnered with
utility providers such as Chicago’s ComEd and Southern California’s
Edison, but striking deals with utilities is still a challenge since
Nest is only in less than 1 percent of U.S. households.
The results of these partnerships could allow utilities to reimburse
Nest users for lowering their air conditioners on a hot day to relieve
some load from the grid, according to Forbes. The advantage of
using a smart home thermostat like Nest as opposed to a standard system
is that the device would be able to detect movement and learns about
your household’s activity over time, which could cut down on energy
consumption. This, as Forbes notes, is crucial in convincing utilities to partner with Nest.
Nest co-founder Matt Rogers stressed that despite these partnerships,
utility companies will never have control over your living room.
“We don’t let utilities control the thermostat,” he said to Forbes. “We don’t share the data with the utility. We won’t work with them if they don’t agree.”
Fitbit, on the other hand, is working with employers to aid in
corporate wellness programs. Fitbit sells its devices to thousands of
employers, and the data collected from those gadgets may eventually
impact group insurance pricing, health insurer Cigna said to Forbes. Fitbit CEO James Park said it’s one of the fastest-growing parts of the company’s business.
Fitbit’s corporate solutions website advertises its wellness program as a means of decreasing sick days and health care costs.
Forbes reports that Jawbone may consider starting a similar
program in the future. The company’s vice president of product
management Travis Bogart told the publication that it will “definitely
be about the data as we move forward.”
Jawbone could even possibly one-up Fitbit by offering custom analytics software for employers, according to the Forbes report.
The idea of your employer watching how active you are may seem
invasive for some, but it depends on whether consumers believe less
expensive health care will be worth sharing that type of information.
It will probably be quite some time before most companies equip their
employees with fitness bands and your electricity bill decreases from
using Nest in your home. However, the fact that these partnerships are
already starting to develop shows that the data obtained by these types
of gadgets could even be more valuable than the products themselves.
Lisa Eadicicco covers technology for Business Insider.
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