A recent report from McKinsey estimated that the total value potential for the Internet of Things ecosystem could reach £12.6 trillion by 2030.
Four main categories of IOT tech accounts for over 80% of the ecosystem:
- operations optimisation (factories)
- health and fitness
- human productivity
- condition maintenance
So in real terms this means manufacturing robots, fitness trackers, ingestible cameras, umbrellas that tell you when it's going to rain and fridges that let you control their temperature remotely
All of this is useful, but the problem is we're not talking about here about basic or fundamental human needs for the majority of people here.
As a general rule the Internet of Things provide quite minimal, fringe benefits, that may be nice to have but in many cases aren't significantly life-improving.
NB I fully accept that for some people IoT may well significantly improve their lives... med boxes which automatically re-order when meds are getting low may be a life saver for those living alone with early stage dementia, for example. And driverless cars (if these every do become a thing) have obvious advantages for those who cannot drive, or who do so very reluctantly.
But demand for IoT is limited!
Manufacturer surveys show that fewer than half of internet-capable devices are actually hooked up to the internet....
It's easy to understand why as there can be a struggle involved with getting yer devices connected.... downloading apps, sometimes more than one, reprogramming devices when you change your smartphone or service provider, upgrades that go wrong.
And my offline fridge has never stopped working because of a software failure, because it doesn't have any software!
And then there's the sense that these devices may be spying on you, and in some cases being used to farm your data that can work against you.
At the end of the day they just aren't worth the hassle!
Final Thoughts....
I guess the smart move is to figure out which of these devices have any legs and punt on start-up companies that look promising....
At a general level we'll all be buying into IoT in day to day to devices as we probably won't have the option to keep them disconnected at some point, because they just won't work UNLESS we CONNECT them!