We’ve all seen the effects of an exploding Samsung Galaxy Note, and more recently Apple iPads have become an incendiary plaything after catching fire instore, but as a recent survey by Dynatrace have shown consumers aren’t placing a lot of trust in their connected, smart and IOT devices either.

According to analyst firm Gartner, there are 8.4 billion connected “things” already in use and expected to rise to 20.4 billion by 2020. However, of the 10,000 consumers surveyed by Dynatrace 64% of users have encountered performance or other problems with their devices, where globally on average an issue plagues a user 1.5 times a day which doesn’t bode well.

Staggeringly, 92% of UK consumers are put off owning an autonomous vehicle because of fears over software glitches that could cause serious injuries or fatalities due to errors, well above the global average of 84%.

There were also concerns expressed around digital locks and smart traffic light systems, which the latter would be seen to cause major disruption to city centre journeys during a failure.

Would You Trust IOT to Administer Medicines?

The report also showed that consumers have serious concerns about the potential for IoT performance problems or failures in healthcare.

The vast majority of consumers said they were concerned that glitches and performance problems with IoT devices could lead to clinical data being compromised. There were also specific concerns about the use of IoT devices to administer medicine, with 62% of consumers stating they wouldn’t trust such devices. This sentiment is strongest in the 55+ age range, with 74% stating they would not trust an IoT device to administer medication.

Dave Anderson, CMO of Dynatrace  says “The delivery chain behind every connected device is extremely complex. Businesses are already struggling with cloud complexity, but IoT magnifies this a thousand times with sensors, masses of new data and dynamic containerised workloads.”

“Consumers are already reporting problems with everything from medical applications, smart meters, car door locks and virtual personal assistants, to smart thermostats and fridges. Their patience is at an all-time low, and they simply won’t tolerate a poor experience.”

The research also revealed 83% of consumers are concerned about losing control of their smart home due to digital performance problems, highlighting a confidence problem in IOT before the industry has taken off in earnest.