Smart Data Pricing Models for Internet-of-Things (IoT): A Bundling Strategy Approach

TL;DR

This paper proposes a smart data pricing model for IoT that uses bundling strategies to enhance revenue, manage data efficiently, and attract more users through coalition formation among providers.

Contribution

It introduces a novel pricing scheme for IoT data and services, incorporating bundling strategies and coalition formation to improve revenue and user engagement.

Findings

Bundling strategies increase IoT service provider revenue.

The proposed pricing scheme effectively balances data buying and subscription fees.

Coalition formation among providers attracts more users and enhances competitiveness.

Abstract

Internet of things (IoT) has emerged as a new paradigm for the future Internet. In IoT, enormous devices are connected to the Internet and thereby being a huge data source for numerous applications. In this article, we focus on addressing data management in IoT through using a smart data pricing (SDP) approach. With SDP, data can be managed flexibly and efficiently through intelligent and adaptive incentive mechanisms. Moreover, it is a major source of revenue for providers and partners. We propose a new pricing scheme for IoT service providers to determine the sensing data buying price and IoT service subscription fee offered to sensor owners and service users, respectively. Additionally, we adopt the bundling strategy that allows multiple providers to form a coalition and bid their services as a bundle, attracting more users and achieving higher revenue. Finally, we outline some important open research issues for SDP and IoT.