Remember the first connected toaster in 1990? Now compare that to the incredibly intricate wireless industrial control systems and smart buildings of 2015—there’s no doubt the Internet of Things (IoT) is growing at an unbelievable pace.
IoT is all about sensing, controlling, and interacting with more of the physical world in a connected way. It allows us to make data-driven decisions, simplify tasks, and create a simple and effective communication loop through and with machines. Companies are reacting to this push in the market, and more and more players—including WiFi, cellular, and low power, wide-area networks like Symphony Link—are encouraging IoT innovation.
If you’re wondering how far IoT has come or you’re considering what the future holds for connected devices, you’re going to love these 16 Internet of Things statistics.
(Note: These are not original statistics from Link Labs—they are all sourced from various reports online. The source we used can be found hyperlinked next to each statistic.)
1. By 2020, there will be about 26 smart objects for every human being on Earth.
(Source)
2. Organizations that have implemented IoT have seen an 82% increase in efficiency, 49% increase in product quality, and 45% increase in customer satisfaction.
(Source)
3. The total global worth of IoT technology could be as much as $6.2 trillion by 2025.
(Source)
4. More than 13 million health and fitness tracking devices will enter into the market by 2018.
(Source)
5. The IoT-connected kitchen will help the food and beverage industry save 15% on costs by 2020.
(Source)
6. Verizon data shows 49% year-over-year growth in the number of IoT connections in the energy and utilities sector.
(Source)
7. IPv6 creates enough web addresses for every star in the known universe to have 4.8 trillion addresses.
(Source)
8. 94 million smart meters were shipped worldwide in 2014, and the total installed base is predicted to reach 1.1 billion by 2022.
(Source)
9. Between 2013 and 2022, $14.4 trillion of IoT-driven net profit will be “up for grabs” for enterprises globally.
(Source)
10. Most of the IoT data collected today isn’t used to its full potential. For example, less than 1% of the data generated by an offshore oil rig’s 30,000 sensors is currently used to make decisions.
(Source)
11. Fleets can save 20-25% of fuel costs when they use IoT management systems.
(Source)
12. The U.S. is not leading the machine-to-machine (M2M) market. At the end of 2013, China had 50 million M2M connections, and the U.S. had 32 million M2M connections.
(Source)
13. By 2020, 14% of consumers plan on purchasing some kind of IoT-connected clothing.
(Source)
14. 70% of the most commonly used IoT devices contain vulnerabilities.
(Source)
15. 25% of car buyers say connectivity made a vehicle much more desirable at the time of purchase.
(Source)
16. Venture capital investments in the IoT market jumped from $34 million in 2010 to $341 million in 2014.
(Source)
It looks like the next five to 10 years will be monumental for the Internet of Things. But accomplishments in the IoT industry won’t come without challenges. Companies will be faced with security issues and tough strategic choices. We’re interested in how these challenges will differ from those companies faced in 2015, and which large companies and IoT startups will dominate the market in the next decade.