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Internet of Things: Smart Homes and Connected Devices to become a Reality over the next Decade
In just eight years from now, the average home will have over 500 smart devices, predicts Gartner. Homes are expected to gradually replace existing appliances with their smarter next-generation versions over the next decade.
Devices that will gain smart capabilities include home appliances, like washing machines, refrigerators and air conditioners; office equipment, like security shredders and smart waste bins; outdoor items like irrigation systems; wearables and clothing, luggage and keys; as well as toys and games and tracking items for pets.
Nick Jones, vice president at Gartner, said that “we expect that a very wide range of domestic equipment will become ‘smart’ in the sense of gaining some level of sensing and intelligence combined with the ability to communicate, usually wirelessly. More sophisticated devices will include both sensing and remote control functions. Price will seldom be an inhibitor because the cost of the Internet of Things (IoT) enabling a consumer ‘thing’ will approach $1 in the long term.”
Jones said that “Devices in the smart home will demand connectivity – some will demand high reliability as they’ll be performing vital functions such as health monitoring, so homes will require reliable high-speed internet connections. If these connections fail, many domestic devices might be forced to operate in, at best, a degraded manner. If homes become as dependent on good connectivity as businesses they will need fallback systems.”
While not doubting the direction where technology is going, some are discounting Gartner’s predictions about how fast the new technology will be adopted. Wayne Williams, for example, said that “More than 500 smart devices? It’s possible, I suppose, if Gartner is counting individual smart light bulbs and plug sockets, but I don’t see consumers rushing to replace all of their existing ‘dumb’ appliances with ‘smart’ ones unless there’s a good, solid reason for doing so.”
Segments where vendors and service providers can expect to find opportunities in the smart home/device market include:
• New products and features
• Revenue and cost saving opportunities.
• New business models
• Social and government initiatives
• Analyzing and monetizing information
