There will be 4.9 billion connected ‘things’ (such as ATMs and airline check-in machines) in use next year, up 30% from 2014, and 25 billion by 2020. These figures come from Gartner, which says that the Internet of Things (IoT) has become ‘a powerful force for business transformation’; its impact ‘will be felt across all industries and all areas of society’.
“The digital shift…threatens many existing businesses”, said VP Jim Tully. “They have no choice but to pursue IoT, like they’ve done with the consumerisation of IT”.
The economic impact of the IoT will be boosted as consumers and companies find new ways to use the technology. Gartner estimates that the IoT will support total services spending of $69.5 billion in 2015 and $263 billion in 2020.
While the majority of IoT revenue will be driven by the enterprise sector, consumers will drive unit sales. Of the 4.9 billion connected things in use next year, 2.9 billion will be in use in the consumer sector – growing to more than 13 billion by 2020. The highest growth rate (96%) will be shown by the automotive sector next year.
In industry, the main verticals using the IoT in 2015 will be manufacturing, utilities and transportation, with a combined total of 736 million connected things. Utilities will overtake manufacturing by 2020 and government will come in third, with a combined total of 1.7 billion installed units.
