big_D: "In most cases, there just isn't any benefit to having white goods attached to the internet. What is it supposed to tell me? I can't start it until I have manually filled it up and it already turns itself off, when it is finished."
... You appear to be looking for something that would be a benefit to you. Please make no mistake, in a lot of cases IoT is not about consumer benefit, it's about them:
- Making it stand out in the store -- It has to have a bigger LCD panel than the competitors model and some bright animation playing on it to draw you in - things that are actually no benefit to you, but higher numbers and larger sizes sell even when they are not relevant. I imagine that once more than half of dishwashers have a screen on them, there will even be some poor folk who will not consider buying one without a screen, even if they don't know why.
- Letting them know how you use it -- They need to know when the salt is low, whether you skip putting rinse aid in, when it's due for a service etc. They can even kindly let you know after 11 months that you in fact bought the wrong model because you do two washes per day and as it happens they have made a newer model with a quicker wash cycle. How great would it be to have a d/w less than a year old displaying an advert for the d/w it wishes it was. And you can bet all those variables will be added into warranty contract so it's easier for them to say it's your fault the d/w broke because you used Aldi rinse aid, didn't top up the salt, and you should have bought the model which was fit for your usage case.
The possibility that it might be some use to you during your period of ownership is the last thing they think about.