IOT was coined to solve the sale problem of a popular Lipstick

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Author Kevin Ashton, speaks about what led to the coining of "The Internet of Things"  in his book "How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention and Discovery".

A popular shade of lipstick by P&G was not being adequately restocked on store shelves. Half of the stores were out of stock at any given point of time and it was the customers who were noticing it and either buying another shade or leaving the store without buying it.

In the late 90s inventory information was stored in computes and manually keyed in. Store workers did not have time to go and look at the shelf and key in information about availability or lack of it. He attached a small radio microchip to the lipstick and an antenna on the shelf which connected to the internet to update the information and initially called it the "Storage system". He later extended this to all P&G products like diapers, potato chips, detergent and coined the term "Internet of Things".

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