Sizing up the IoT, IoE and connected devices market

By Alex Voica, Jul. 18, 2016 – 

Whenever you hear analysts or companies talking about the next big thing in consumer electronics, you instantly know that the Internet of Things (IoT) is going to get at least one shout out.

However, there has been a lot of debate around the actual size of the IoT market: more conservative estimates place it at about six billion devices by 2020. More bullish predictions claim that it could be as high as 200 billion. Obviously, there is a huge gap between the two extremes; but I believe it all starts with the actual definition of IoT.

If we follow the interpretation offered by Wikipedia, the Internet of Things represents "a network of physical objects-devices, vehicles, buildings and other items-embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity that enables these objects to collect and exchange data."

This is where things get a bit confusing. Is a smartphone or a desktop PC an IoT device? Some companies and analysts would have you think so. However, I am not convinced (yet).

If we use the IoT label for any internet-connected system, including devices such as set-top boxes, smartphones and PCs, then we risk creating a great deal of confusion among the general public. Furthermore, this definition is not entirely correct since there will be many IoT devices that might not actually be connected to the internet; these devices will instead group in standalone ecosystems that are isolated from the public networks that consumers use for web browsing. In an article titled "Smart Homes?" Not Until They're Less Dependent On The Internet, Jared Newman from Fast Company makes a very good case for how some electronic devices should probably stay off the public internet grid for a number of reasons, including better reliability and improved security.

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