It has predicted that there will be 6.4 billion connected things in use across the globe next year, which is an increase of 30 percent against 2015. This means that businesses, instead of implementing IT themselves, will contract with external providers to order, design, install and operate IoT systems. Consumer devices will proliferate most, while the ones for enterprises bring in more money, Gartner said in its annual IoT report released Tuesday.
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Gartner analyst Jim Tully said: “Connected things for specialised use are now the largest category”.
In terms of spending on hardware, consumer uses will also make up a large chunk at $546 billion in 2016, but the majority of spending will be on things for use in specific industry verticals, at $612 billion. Estimations counted 6.4 billion devices come 2016 and more than triple until 2020. These figures are set to rise to $556bn and $911bn respectively by 2020.
Gartner has detailed two classes within its enterprise of connected things, with the first of these consisting of generic or cross-industry devices that are utilised in a number of industries and vertical-specific devices that are found in specific industries.
In the next five years this number will more than double, as by 2020 Gartner forecasts 20,797 million online IoT devices.
A few are still wary of the IoT and fear that connecting everything to the Internet has the potential to fundamentally change the way we think about the surrounding world.
“Connected things for specialized use are now the largest category, however, this is quickly changing with the increased use of generic devices”, Tully wrote.
The second class covers vertical-specific devices, such as specialised equipment used in hospital operating theatres and tracking devices in container ships. By 2020, Gartner predicts this sum to reach $3,010 billion.
IoT hardware spending will amount to $1,414 billion in 2016, up from $1,183 billion this year.
We have an Internet of Things (IoT) gold rush going on at the moment, and the connected device is becoming ever more popular.
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That is according to Gartner, which talked up the future of the market at its Symposium event in Barcelona this week.
