Commentary

Connected Devices Projected To Reach 20 Billion This Year; PC Takes A Back Seat

by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, October 29, 2017

When it comes to the number of connected devices, the counts are consistently into the billions.

One forecast not long ago pegged the number of connected devices this year already at 12 billion.

That projection, by Frost & Sullivan, said the number of connected devices would grow to more than 45 billion by 2023, at an annual growth rate of 20%.

Now a new forecast says the number of connected devices globally this year will reach 20 billion, with another 10 billion added over the next four years.

One of the main drivers of growth is the smart home, according to the forecast by Strategy Analytics.

By 2020, the number of connected devices will total around 50 billion, according to the forecast.

Interestingly, smart home devices will overtake smartphones by 2021 as a share of connected IoT devices.

However, the rate of growth is another issue.

While the Internet of Things will grow by 17% this year, annual growth rate will decline to 9% by 2021, according to the research firm.

For context of the scale of the Internet of Things, the personal computer, the original connected device, now represents only 5% of the total market.

iot, smart home

4 comments about "Connected Devices Projected To Reach 20 Billion This Year; PC Takes A Back Seat".

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Mark Westlake from GearBrain, October 30, 2017 at 3:54 p.m.
I still believe the real growth in IoT will come when consumers are better educated on the benefits these new connected devices offer. Manufacturers need to do a better job of assisting the consumer on how their devices can solve a problem or money for them as well as makiing it easy to install. Maybe Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa will start soon be the device that offers plug and play for all new connected devices in the home.

Just my two cents.

Reply

Chuck Martin from Chuck Martin replied, October 30, 2017 at 3:59 p.m.

Totally agree, Mark. One small and early example of this is in Amazon physical stores, where they display Amazon Echo products along with other smart devices that can be paired with them.

R MARK REASBECK from www.USAonly.US replied, October 30, 2017 at 5:44 p.m.

What happens if the consumer, like me, does not want my life, my movements , shopping habits, and my refrigerator contents collected and repackaged and eventually fall into the hands of hackers, who will get all your info anyway.
All of this in the name of the laziness, disguised as "convienience"and technology.
NO THANKS.........ever

Chuck Martin from Chuck Martin, October 30, 2017 at 6:07 p.m.

There will be a percentage of consumers who won't likely opt into a lot of this. It will be up to marketers/brands to offer enough incentives and security assurances to make it worthwhile. It still comes down to the value proposition, at least for those who are interested.