The Physical Web

>And how can you be sure that the buyers are "everyday people", not techno-enthusiasts and early adopters?

I don't think it matters. The future of smart-devices is looking good of a number of reasons and this is why more than a few people think that smart-devices are going to see widespread adoption.

"Everyday people" don't need to be the ones adopting this widely just yet. There's a trend in the evolution of technology where people don't know that they want/need a specific technology until they've been shown the power of it. "Everyday people" never asked for Home PCs; they were pushed to them and now it's hard to imagine life without a home computer. "Everyday people" never asked for smartphones; they were pushed by technology companies and now they're almost a mandatory device for navigating modern culture.

I think smart-devices will see the same fate. There is a lot of talk and development into IoT and technologists see the power of such networks even if "everyday people" do not. Smart-devices are a natural progression of IoT and the other devices everyone already has in their pockets. I think it will be adopted in the same way other technologies have: It will see small, and then large-scale adoption in a niche area, people will see the power of IoT and smart-devices, and then people will begin to want it everywhere. This will be driven by technologist support and marketing.

The article may have presented the outcome a little optimistic but I don't then they're far off the mark.

We don't necessarily need AI, we just need APIs to be standardized so everything knows how to interface with them. This is IMO the killer app for the Semantic Web (I just wrote an article on this: https://medium.com/@mcriddy/semantic-web-design-92ef35f66c9f).

Looks like yet another vector mostly for local advertising.

Isn't this what QR codes on signs were supposed to do?

You don't need an "app" just to talk to some retail thing. Many retail apps are a dodge to get inside your phone and snoop around, acquire your contacts list, and track where you are.

" . . . a vending machine, a poster, a toy, a bus stop, a rental car, and not have to download an app first in order to use it."

I can, and do, do that now. I don't need or use an app to interact with any of those things, and when I have been offered apps, they've been worse than useless. Seriously, worse than nothing, they've been annoying, harassing, clunky junk.

I just want to be able to approach any of these things and pull up all of the documentation regarding it. On my phone, tablet, laptop, etc. No "advertising tracking" nonsense. How to use it or fix it. If the owner wants to turn this feature off, they should be able to, but it should be on by default. If the owner thinks its a security loophole, he is both mistaken and lacking in security.

This includes stores. Why can I find a shelf stocker in Target and he can use his li'l belt computer to tell me where anything is in the store, down to the shelf, and how many they have, but I can't have access to that information before I enter the store? Big box stores were never so annoying until I got used to Amazon.