IoT Interoperability: Why Is It So Hard?

Device interoperability is absolutely expected by users. But they are not getting it. Why is it so hard to deliver? Because we've never done it.

How does an electric plug look like? It depends on which country you live in.... It has a very simple function and there is no interoperability. Converters and adapters are needed.

But computers connected to the Internet are interoperable. So why things can't be? Why don't things use WiFi, which is an interoperable protocol? These questions are based on false assumptions.

Computers are not interoperable. WiFi is not interoperable. Humans using them are. My laptop cannot talk to your laptop. But I as a human can use an application (like Skype) to connect over WiFi and the Internet to your laptop that runs Skype and has you on the other side. Remove the humans and nothing works.

We've never built a single interoperable system!

Even the airline reservation systems are not interoperable. So often it happens a ticket issued by one airline cannot spawn a boarding pass on a code - share flight, not to mention special food requests or seat selections.

So the interoperability is not the problem of the IoT. It is a general problem that is yet to be solved. IoT just amplifies the urgency for interoperability, as there are supposed to be no humans to make the connected things work together.