Walmart To Rival Amazon Dash With New IoT Platform

A Walmart patent application for IoT is one of the novel 'in' things on the scene. The system is reminiscent of Amazon Dash — the connected buttons offered by Amazon that let users quickly re-order products. Launched over two years ago, Amazon Dash buttons now cover over 300 products. However, as we’ll describe below, Walmart’s system would require even less effort than Amazon’s. This patent application, titled “Retail subscription in internet of things environment,” describes adding IoT tags to products based on Bluetooth, radio frequency, infrared, NFC, or other technology. The tag would monitor product usage, and automatically order refills/replacements when needed.