Up 30 percent from 2015, a prediction by Gartner foresees that 6.4 billion connected things will be globally in use in 2016 and will reach 20.8 billion by the year 2020. In 2016, 5.5 million new things will connect every day.
Gartner predicts that the Internet of Things (IoT) will support total services spending of US$235 billion (£155 billion) in 2016, up 22 percent from 2015. Connectivity services and consumer services will grow at a quicker pace than services commanded by the professional category in which businesses contract with external providers to design, install and operate IoT systems.
“IoT services are the real driver of value in IoT, and increasing attention is being focused on new services by end-user organisations and vendors. Aside from connected cars, consumer uses will continue to account for the greatest number of connected things, while enterprise will account for the largest spending,” said Jim Tully, vice president and a leading analyst at Gartner.
Gartner estimates that four billion connected things in the consumer sector will be in use in 2016. Consumer applications are valued at US$ 546 billion (£359 billion). The use of connected things in enterprise will amount to US$ 868 billion (£571billion) in 2016.
In the enterprise, Gartner divides connected things into two classes: generic or cross-industry devices used in multiple industries mainly set up for cost saving, and vertical-specific devices found in particular industries. “Connected things for specialised use are currently the largest category, however, this is quickly changing with the increased use of generic devices. By 2020, cross-industry devices will dominate the number of connected things used in the enterprise,” concluded Tully.
