用不了多久，你家的冰箱就将可以替你智能买菜了？

    手机在世界上的作用越来越大。它使我们的生活方式也正在发生深刻的变化。不久，从智能手机到可穿戴设备，我们的移动设备将深入了解我们的点点滴滴，它们将转化为“移动个人管家”，无需提示就能够无缝地代表我们将事情办妥。我们已经开始迈向这样一个超级连接的世界——即所谓的物联网中，机器对机器的通信将很快超越人机对话。但要让这个互联世界像许多人想象的那样无缝运行，它所需要的远不止能够预测人类需求的技术那么简单。

    首先，它需要一个开放、安全、对开发者友好的平台，一个能够通过跨平台移动支付操作系统连接在一起的平台。初创公司需要具备百折不挠的精神，才有望最终发现能够引起消费者共鸣的产品或服务。当今最成功的初创公司必须基于市场的重大反馈意见完成迭代升级。举例来说，在Instagram和Flickr收获今天的成功之前，它们最初都采用过完全不同的商业模式，但随后根据市场反馈不断进化。

    安全性也是至关重要的。互联设备既需要减少摩擦，比如去除密码，能够实现一键登录；又需要提高安全性。为了让年轻的初创公司获得反馈，消费者需要相信他们的数据，无论是密码，还是支付信息，都不会受到损害。随着设备更加紧密地连接在一起，信息在各种服务或设备之间的传递更加迅速，这一点变得尤为重要。消费者需要相信，如果他们的冰箱被黑客攻击，像信用卡信息这样的敏感数据不会遭受外泄风险。

    最后，所有这一切都需要通过一个不可知的、不局限于特定平台的支付操作系统进行连接，以启动和验证购买行为。当家里没有鸡蛋或者需要订购一些牛奶时，你的冰箱能够通过智能手机给你发送提示信息，这的确很美妙。但请想象一下，如果你的冰箱能够无缝地替你下订单，那将是怎样一番情景？而这，正是互联商务的下一步。

    如今，已经有19亿部设备与互联网连接。据估计，到2020年，全球的联网设备将达到300亿部。现在，随着我们迅速迈入一个智能手机作为主要计算设备的世界，我们也正在从一个有些人所称的“随需应变的世界”转移至一个我所认为的“为您服务的世界”。届时，我们的设备将知道我们什么时候想要什么东西，并且能够代表我们启动相应流程。从购买直至运送，技术能够自发地实现这些神奇的体验，而无需我们亲自驱动这些交互过程。这就是“智能商务(Smart Commerce) ”的未来。

    Mobile is playing a bigger role in the world, and as it does, it’s enabling some profound shifts in how we live. Soon, our mobile devices – from smartphones to wearables – will know so much about us that they will transform into personal mobile concierges and be able to seamlessly transact on our behalf without prompting. We’re already moving toward this hyper-connected world – toward the Internet of Things – where machine-to-machine communications will soon outpace human-to-machine conversations. But for this connected world to work as seamlessly as many envision, it requires much more than just technology that can predict our wants and needs.

    For one, it requires an open and secure, developer-friendly platform — one that is linked together through a cross-platform mobile payments OS. Startups need to be able to quickly move through hundreds of failures before ultimately finding the product or service that resonates with consumers. Today’s most successful startups at one point had to iterate and pivot based on critical feedback from the market. Before Instagram and Flickr became the successful businesses they are today, for example, they both started out with completely different business models but evolved their businesses in response to market feedback.

    Security is also paramount. There’s both a need to reduce friction — like removing passwords and enabling logins with the touch of finger — and increase security. In order for young startups to be able to get feedback, customers need to be able to trust that their data — whether it’s passwords or payment information — won’t be compromised. This is especially important as devices become increasingly connected and information gets quickly passed around from one service or device to the next. Customers need to trust that if their refrigerator gets hacked, sensitive data like their credit card information won’t be compromised.

    Finally, this all needs to be connected through an agnostic payments OS — one that isn’t confined to a specific platform — that will enable and authenticate purchases. It’s great that your fridge can ping your smartphone when you’re out of eggs or need to pick up some milk, but imagine if your fridge could seamlessly make the order for you. This in the next step in connected commerce.

    Today, 1.9 billion devices are already connected to the Internet and it’s estimated that by 2020, we’ll reach 30 billion connected devices globally. As we shift toward a world where our smartphones are now our primary computing devices, we’re moving from what some call an “on-demand world,” to what I see as an “at your service world” – where our devices know what we want, when we want it, and can initiate things on our behalf. From buying through to shipping, technology will be able to deliver these magical experiences without people having to drive the interaction. This is the future of Smart Commerce.