The growth of the IoT market doesn’t seem to stop. Either in business or personal use, this technology has come to stay.
There is no doubt that IoT touches all aspects of our lives. Urbanization and industrialization have influenced the growing trend of internet-enabled devices, and this has given rise to the market share of this technology globally.
Given the potential and influence that IoT has on the world, it is worth looking at the analysis and predictions related to the Internet of Things products.
Read on to learn about:
- What Is the Internet of Things
- Why Is IoT Important
- Top IoT Market Needs in 2024
- Analytics and Machine Learning
- Blockchain in IoT
- New Cellular Communication Modules
- The Latest Technologies in Simple Wireless Devices
- More Complex IoT Gateways
- Internet of Things Market Size 2024
- What Are the IoT Market Potentials
- Top IoT Trends in 2024
- Final Thoughts
Reading Time: ~18 min
What Is the Internet of Things
According to Wikipedia, the definition of the Internet of Things (IoT) is the following:
“The Internet of Things (IoT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines provided with unique identifiers (UIDs) and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.”
Looks quite complicated, right? To have a quick grasp of what IoT is and how it works in a more comprehensive way, watch this video below.
In simple words, the Internet of Things is a broad network of connected physical objects, or devices, that communicate with each other and exchange data without human interference.
Generally, all these devices are capable of:
- Collecting data
- Processing information
- Transferring data
IoT devices have extensive functionalities and cover multiple purposes across all industries. They help control and automate a variety of tasks and processes. As IoT goes hand in hand with AI solutions and machine learning technologies, it provides significant advantages to businesses.
Key benefits of IoT:
- Productivity improvements
- Cost savings
- Predictive analysis
- Human error reduction
- Improved monitoring
- Enhanced customer experience
- New opportunities for business
Why Is IoT Important
IoT allows people and businesses to implement higher-level tasks, get meaningful insights, and control environments. It has created a promising and evident availability of extra time.
Now companies and humans can gain and save more of this valuable resource by automating tasks, whether it comes to home or workplace.
“We just have to make it our quest to use the time saved by IoT-enabled devices to be more innovative instead of resting on our ‘genius’.”
— Czarina Walker, Founder and CEO,
InfiniEDGE Software
Besides just making different electronic gadgets smart, IoT today tends to connect them in an ecosystem. As these devices increase, the broader ecosystem created will not just be the connection in a household or workplace. It will involve the optimization of specific connected environments and clearer ecosystems of multiple smart things.
The ecosystem of IoT will help us understand and control our environment, changing to more effective ways of building and managing our public spaces. Share on XThe application of IoT data is another relevant reason for IoT importance. The real-time data gathered by IoT can drive analytics and machine learning to more effective use. We will be able to raise our level of productivity in various aspects of our lives by more accurate usage of such data.
Top IoT Market Needs in 2024
The Internet of Things is actually more than just connecting various objects and collecting data. IoT is indeed a big market linking multiple parties and having its own segmentation.
First, there is a need to connect various devices from different manufacturers, functions, interfaces, and protocols. Enterprise systems then analyze data received from these smart sensors for actionable business intelligence. The results are finally displayed on dashboards in web and mobile apps.
In recent times, the IoT market has been spanning in new directions; this shows a variety of potential solutions reached by IT companies. The market demands are also determined by manufacturers of supporting devices for IoT.
A recent chat with our partner and IoT industry expert revealed that today customer interests are related to the following:
- Analytics and Machine Learning
- Generative AI
- Blockchain in IoT
- New Cellular Communication Modules
- The Latest Technologies in Simple Wireless Devices
- More Complex IoT Gateways
1. Analytics and Machine Learning
The application of Big Data and Machine Learning solutions will be good facilitators in the IoT sphere creating new opportunities. With billions of connected devices, there is a broad availability of real-time data for analytics. Records of data, metadata, and logic execution will help to heighten machine learning.
- Generate
- Collect
- Analyze
- Act
- Visualize
- Optimize
By applying ML, it will be easier to categorize algorithms in accordance with the types of data they can accept, their structural similarities, and the ratio of data they can process against a time frame.
Machine learning could be used in cases where:
- The anticipated result is known – guided learning.
- The data is not available yet and so the result is not predictable – unguided learning.
- The learning obtainable is the result of interaction between IoT models and the environment – reinforcement learning.
A good combination of big data, analytics, and machine learning will be an optimizing tool for effective streaming data analytics. This combination will enable industry experts to take advantage of IoT data, using it to train all forms of Artificial Intelligence applications including machine learning engines.
2. Generative AI
GenAI solutions have already made a lot of buzz in many sectors, IoT included. It has become a vital component in the Internet of Things ecosystem, enhancing the ability to create and optimize content, models, and solutions. And so what, you might think?
You see, by leveraging deep learning techniques, generative AI can produce synthetic data to train ML models, simulate various scenarios, and optimize system performance. For instance, a smart home system might use generative AI to analyze a user’s daily preferences, generating personalized settings for lighting, temperature, and music.
3. Blockchain in IoT
Blockchain is a very promising technology that supports IoT. Combining both will enable overcoming the security, operational, compliance, and legal challenges of IoT in a very consistent way.
- Privacy and security
- Scalability
- Single point of failure
- Time stamping
- Record and data sharing
- Trust and reliability
Apart from the execution of business logic via smart contracts, blockchain technology provides a simple infrastructure for the autonomous functioning of smart devices. Blockchain-enabled IoT systems will allow devices to register and validate themselves against the network, and directly transfer data between one another with consistent time stamping.
Standard business terms and payments can be automated by interactions between nodes in an IoT system. Blockchain technology’s peer-to-peer contractual behavior will rid the third party’s approval in a transaction over IoT, making it faster.
Payments to business network participants and micropayments between devices will be based on sensor data. They will operate with indicators for the delivery of product or service completion.
The record distribution system for sharing data across a network of stakeholders is an asset for analytical model tracking. Records of metadata and results of logic executions can be used to regulate compliance. The immutable history gathered will help in analyzing decisions made in IoT processing and making more intelligent systems.
Learn more: How to Launch a Successful IoT Project
Security, privacy, identity verification, and provenance authentication are vital for any IoT deployment. Blockchain as a decentralized system will prevent security gaps by protecting unauthorized device control and other malicious attacks.
On top of that, securing software updates can be done by publishing a URL that can only be validated by blockchain-connected Internet of Things products.
4. New Cellular Communication Modules
There is a strong desire among IoT market players to switch to new cellular communication modules. This is simply because cellular communication modules are becoming more affordable with better quality.
Another factor for this move is that the most popular IoT devices for homes are moving outside into parks, streets, and farming fields where Wi-Fi connection is poor.
These specified communication modules usually include:
- Industrial modems
- Advanced firmware
- Power management
- Full certification
- Low power
- Long distance
- High speed
- Low cost
5. The Latest Technologies in Simple Wireless Devices
The application of simple wireless devices including the use of Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN), various trackers, and so on is on the rise. Examples are LoRa devices and wireless radio frequency technology, LTE Cat M1 and Narrowband IoT.
They connect a lot of sensors, tags, and activators in industrial enterprise and consumer applications.
Learn more: How Smart Sensors and an IoT Solution Saved Costs for a Cold Chain Company
Despite advances in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies, major projects mostly rely on data transmission with the use of the latest platforms such as LTE Cat M1.
Customers prefer devices such as LoRa for the following reasons:
- They want to move to cheaper technology
- They want to reduce their bill of materials (BOM)
- They don’t have high bandwidth and they are fine with low data speeds
This is a good motivation and time for designing solutions based on these new technologies because now they are supported by carriers, such as T-Mobile which has Narrowband.
6. More Complex IoT Gateways
An IoT gateway is a physical device or software program that serves as the connection point between the cloud, controllers, sensors, and intelligent devices. More requests have been in favor of complex IoT system gateways other than simple end-point data capture tools.
- Scalability
- Performance
- Diversity
- Better security
- Faster analytics
- Improved time to market
Complex system gateways are notable for their competitive advantages such as:
- Facilitating the integration of protocols for networking purposes.
- Enabling management, storage, and edge analytics on collected data.
- Communicating data flow securely between edge devices and the cloud.
For the use of complex system gateways unlike simple end-point data capture devices, there is a need for more specific skills in such complex projects.
Global Internet of Things Market Size 2024
IoT is one of the most recent industrial revolutions of our lifetime sparking up the IT industry. In return, it has also grown the IT economy making way for a whole new market height.
According to numerous IoT statistics and studies, the revenue of the IoT sector has been steadily growing for a few years. The forecast for the global IoT market suggests that it will increase to around 620 billion USD by 2030.
Source: Statista
The IoT market analysis shows the best companies in the sector that greatly impact the IoT state of things and offer advanced solutions to their end users. Key players among them are:
- IBM Corporation
- Intel Corporation
- Microsoft Corporation
- Oracle Corporation
- SAP SE
- Amazon
- AT&T Inc
- Bosch Software Innovations GmbH
- Cisco Systems
- Huawei Technologies
The market sizing and estimates of IoT in the future will be significant, looking at the fact that it covers a wide range of implementations.
Imagine if you have a mobile phone connected to your doors, windows, ventilation systems, cars, lights, kitchen appliances, and other gadgets. You will have a deep understanding of how the Internet of Things value will skyrocket pretty soon.
Read how a Fitness Studio Benefited from IoT Implementation
The pace of IoT development is astronomical. The speedy progress in IoT technology makes it a challenge even for the most qualified experts to predict the future of its standardization.
According to the McKinsey Global Institute, IoT could generate up to $11.1 trillion a year in economic value by 2025 across many different settings, including factories, cities, retail environments, and the human body.
What Are the IoT Market Potentials
There is a vast list of opportunities that can be leveraged in various IoT market segments. They include:
- Inter-machine communication;
- Machine-to-infrastructure communication;
- Auto-traffic management;
- Home and industrial building automation;
- Asset tracking for mobile goods;
- Systematic monitoring of firmware upgrades for vehicles;
- Remote security and access control;
- Environmental monitoring and control;
- Medical IoT and Telehealth;
- Other smart applications.
Growing trends in IoT have shown that there is a special activity of customers with large volumes of purchased devices for smart applications.
This high-volume sector includes such things as water meters, managed valves, pumps, etc. Evidently, we need utility for everyday community living, agriculture, and other basic survival needs for all.
Top 12 IoT Trends in 2024
IoT technologies keep evolving and influencing various aspects of our lives and businesses. Some of them help improve the quality and comfort of life, and some become an essential part of security measures.
Let’s look at the IoT projections and key IoT industry trends taking the course in 2024 that bring many opportunities for growth.
1. Security
Security remains one of the top focuses in IoT for those who develop or use it. That is no wonder since in the first half of 2023 there were 77.9 million malware attacks focused on IoT devices.
Security considerations are paramount. Vendors that concentrate their forces on this area will benefit from overcoming security challenges. End-to-end solutions or blockchain technology will help to protect privacy.
2. Data Analytics
While we see the market growth of the Internet of Things solutions, the data collected and transmitted is growing as well. Thus, it requires effective tools to manage and analyze this data. Advanced analytics empowered with AI and machine learning support IoT devices by speeding up data analysis and streamlining processes.
3. SaaS
Software as a service platform development is becoming a norm in the IoT world with a high demand for it. This brings benefits and opportunities for end-users – as they profit from cost reduction and accessibility – and service providers that can develop scalable and complex solutions to fit various niches.
4. IoT in the Healthcare Industry
The Internet of Things has been accelerating progress in the healthcare industry for years and does not seem to stop. It transforms hospital rooms and equips healthcare with smart solutions – powerful tools and devices for diagnostics, patient monitoring, or postoperative care. IoT also brings telemedicine for patients and healthcare providers to the next level, drives revenue, and saves costs.
5. Smart City
In 2024, smart cities are becoming mainstream with IoT paving the way for them. Social and safety aspects, as well as the entire quality of living, can be drastically improved with the use of IoT solutions. They will be a keystone for building a better urban environment and solving everyday city issues in a more efficient way.
6. Remote Equipment Management
One of the Internet of Things future trends promises to raise the popularity of remote equipment management. IoT enables controlling various devices from a distance, whether it is a home, office, or factory environment. This is especially helpful when a remote work approach has gained full traction.
7. Smart Home
The adoption of smart IoT solutions across our homes drives the automation of many tasks and simplifies our lives. It’s no wonder then why smart homes have become one of the current IoT trends.
It is now possible to control multiple devices with the use of a smartphone without even touching its screen. Voice recognition with accurate algorithms has become a standard function for a wide range of electronics. Users will continue to equip their homes with smart gadgets and, thus, the demand for them will steadily keep growing.
8. Intelligent Manufacturing
The global IoT in the manufacturing market is expected to reach USD 87.9 billion by 2026. The reason for this increase is the growing demand for industrial automation that drives the development of IIoT solutions.
The network of connected devices, sensors, and software enables manufacturing companies to control remote operations on the production line and monitor assets.
The real-time data provides meaningful insights into how the products and machinery are performing to make better decisions. Ultimately, it helps optimize manufacturing workflows, enhance predictive maintenance, reduce downtime, and improve product quality.
9. Sustainability with IoT
Today, sustainability has become a central focus of IoT applications, driving innovation in energy efficiency, resource management, and waste reduction. We live in a world that requires a conscious approach to how we manufacture products and consume resources. And IoT helps with both.
It’s increasingly used to monitor and optimize energy consumption in buildings, smart grids, and industrial processes, reducing carbon footprints. Advanced sensors and data analytics enable precise tracking of resource use, which, you can guess, promotes conservation and efficiency in water, agriculture, and other sectors.
Read more about the Role of IIoT for Sustainability
10. Metaverse
You know, of course, what a metaverse is and that it continues to change our digital experiences. Empowered by IoT, it creates immersive and interactive virtual environments. What role do IoT devices play in it? Basically, they enhance the metaverse by providing real-time data from the physical world, enabling realistic simulations and interactions.
This convergence allows users to engage with digital twins of physical spaces, objects, and even themselves! It majorly enhances experiences in such areas as gaming, virtual meetings, and digital commerce. The metaverse, supported by IoT, also offers new opportunities for remote work, training, and education, blurring the lines between the physical and virtual worlds.
11. Digital Twins
We’ve briefly mentioned digital twins in the previous point, but this technology deserves to be highlighted separately as it has definitely become another trend today. From manufacturing and healthcare to urban planning and transportation, it helps organizations predict maintenance needs, optimize performance, and reduce downtime.
Working in tandem with real-time data from IoT sensors, these digital models enable detailed analysis, monitoring, and optimization of various operations. What else? Think about a risk-free environment for innovation. In many cases, that’s the merit of digital twins, too, since they play a crucial role in designing and testing new products and infrastructure.
12. Edge Computing
When we talked about the market needs above, we highlighted the importance of complex gateways. Thus, it’s no wonder that edge computing will remain a trend this year as it addresses the growing need for faster data processing and reduced latency. It greatly reduces the burden on centralized data centers and enables real-time analytics and decision-making.
If you’re curious about where edge computing is of the most value, the answer is in apps requiring immediate response. It can be autonomous vehicles, industrial automation, or healthcare monitoring.
Final Thoughts
The pattern of IoT development has great potential and a well-promising market share because its value and applications continue to grow. The challenge is putting up the best solutions using the most sophisticated devices combined with practical knowledge, experience, and expertise.
The result of advancement in IoT as an accurate source of wide-range data will be superior enterprise solutions in all sectors, increased productivity, comfortable living standards, and lifestyles. All this will lead to open doors for greater achievements through a “smart” community.
The Velvetech team is packed with experts for IoT projects and has the capacity to deliver powerful solutions. Our Custom Hardware Design department offers a comprehensive suite of services including Internet of Things consulting, firmware programming, hardware & software design, and cloud services integration. Reach out to us for a consultation today.