Internet of Things Devices To Increase 30 Percent in 2016
        
        
        
        The number of "things" connected to the Internet  will increase by 30 percent from this year to next, according to market research firm Gartner, to reach a total  of 6.4 billion, a total that will balloon to 20.8 billion by 2020.
Approximately 4 billion of those Internet-connected things  will be used by consumers in 2016 and about 13.5 billion will be for consumer  use in 2020, according to the company. That's up from just over 3 billion in  2015 and about 2.28 billion in 2014.
"Gartner estimates that the Internet of Things  (IoT) will support total services spending of $235 billion in 2016, up 22  percent from 2015," according to a news release. "Services are  dominated by the professional category (in which businesses contract with  external providers in order to design, install and operate IoT systems),  however connectivity services (through communications service providers) and  consumer services will grow at a faster pace."
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.  Spending on cross-industry connected devices is forecast by the company to  reach $201 billion. However, consumer spending on IoT hardware will outpace  vertical-specific spending throughout the latter half of the decade, according  to Gartner's forecast, to overtake it by 2020. That year the company predicts  consumers will spend a whopping $1.5 trillion on IoT hardware, while companies  will spend just $911 billion on vertical-specific IoT hardware and $566 billion  on cross-industry IoT hardware.
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
            
        
        
                
                    About the Author
                    
                
                    
                    Joshua Bolkan is contributing editor for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe. He can be reached at [email protected].