Google is working on standard for ‘app-less’ interaction with devices

Google has started a project to arrive at an open standard in which devices that are part of the ‘internet of things’ can interact with the user based on URLs. This could partly prevent the proliferation of all kinds of apps.

Billions of devices are expected to be connected to the internet in the coming years. According to Google, it is therefore necessary to develop an open standard that makes interaction with all these devices, for example via a mobile phone, as simple as possible. Google wants to give a first impetus and calls its new project The Physical Web.

A ‘smart’ device that is part of the ‘internet of things’, for example a parking meter, an on-board computer in a rental car or a module at a bus stop, should be able to hand over a URL to a user’s device based on Google’s standard to to be able to start a relevant action, for example a web app or a static web page. To do this, a discovery service must be developed based on an open standard. With its The Physical Web project, Google wants to establish a standard so that mobile phones can read and process the URLs of so-called beacons.

As a prototype, Google has developed an Android app that can recognize beacons via bluetooth low energy and shows the user a list of interactive devices in his environment. A follow-up action can then be started in which the browser is opened. Incidentally, the user only sees the list of neighboring devices if he explicitly asks for it; Intrusive notifications are, according to Google, out of the question.

Although the prototype still functions as an app, Google’s initiative wants to offer an alternative to the countless apps that are released for performing specific and sometimes very simple tasks or that only show information. Ultimately, the proposed discovery service should be integrated into all mobile operating systems. Google states that the necessary hurdles still need to be overcome, for example with regard to privacy and the prevention of abuse, such as spam.

Whether Google’s initiative, of which early code can be found on GitHub, will succeed, remains to be seen. Apple, among others, is working with its iBeacon system on closed ecosystems for interaction with internet-of-things applications. Many electronics and software companies are also developing new standards in this area.