The Internet of Things promises to bring a new level of convenience to our lives. Could it bring trillions of dollars worth of convenience? Not likely, but that’s not stopping a lot of prognosticators out there.
The level of hype around the financial promise of the Internet of Things is truly gargantuan. A May 2013 report from the McKinsey Institute suggests that connecting billions of ordinary devices to the Internet will add between $2.7 trillion and $6.2 trillion a year to the global economy by 2025.
Cisco, which has a big stake in the hardware infrastructure for a thriving Internet of Things, estimates that what it calls “the Internet of Everything” will boost global output by $14.4 trillion over 9 years, or a comparatively sane $1.6 trillion a year. General Electric, by contrast, goes even bigger than McKinsey, and estimates that the “Industrial Internet” will boost global GDP by $15.3 trillion in 2030.
So where is all this money going to come from? Will all the little robots and sensors that will fill our lives with automated goodness also spit out gold coins? Not quite. But the Internet of Things is still going to add a lot of economic value. Even if actual gains only amount to a tenth of the hype, the potential boost to the economy—and human wellbeing in general—will be very significant.
Read the rest of the story: The Internet Of Things Will Be Huge—Just Not As Huge As The Hype | ReadWrite.
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