Samsung is attempting to assuage the public?s ambivalence towards data collection and warm consumers to the Internet of Things through a promotion with a local attraction in Philadelphia.

The electronics giant recently approached The Miracle on South 13th Street Holiday Light Display, a local attraction in Philadelphia, for a partnership with its SmartThings technology. The application and the program are not new, but it is clear that this focus on more on-the-ground, grassroots type promotion that communicating the simplicity of IoT technology is of paramount importance to Samsung.

"?We know for many people, setting up their smart home can seem like a huge undertaking,? said Bill Lee, vice president of smart home product marketing at Samsung Electronics America in a press release. ?The residents of Miracle on South 13th Street in Philadelphia show that you can start small by easily integrating smart technology into existing set-ups, and then grow as your needs evolve. 

The Miracle on South 13th Street Holiday Light Display is an annual installation of Christmas lights on the grandest scale. Every year, tourists flock to the 1600 block of South 13th Street to get a view of the lights, which seem to adorn almost every available space: strings of lights hanging over the street, wrapped around every tree, lining every windowsill and glaring from within every shop display. 

The partnership with Samsung seeks not to intrude on the magic of the attraction or change any of its essential features?the company is looking to use the light display as a platform to make both its IoT technology and the event itself more accessible. 

For those not content with run of the mill tactile home maintenance, the technology allows for more control over multiple features of a home, lights included. Samsung?s message in partnering with the South13th Street Holiday Light Display is clear: if our technology can withstand the heavy load of this domestic holiday attraction, why not in your home?

Residents are using the SmartThings Outlets to automate holiday indoor décor, SmartThings partner GE Z-Wave Plug-In Outdoor Smart Switches to manage outdoor lights and the SmartThings Hub to manage home settings from afar when traveling. 

The SmartThings application is available free on Android and iOS. 

For the first time, the Internet of Things netted more additional subscribers for wireless networks than phones and tablets combined during the second quarter of 2016, according to a recent report from Chetan Sharma Consulting (see story).

And with predictive analytics and machine learning transforming the way marketers respond to consumer behavior, acquisitions of IoT- and AI-related companies will likely abound next year (see story).