Internet of Things: Sizing the IoT Opportunity

While the Internet of Things (IoT) may have started out as a mash-up of fragmented and complex technologies, a recent study by Verizon found that IoT is now mainstream.

According to research in the report, Gartner Group estimated that IoT would support total services spending of $235 billion in 2016 across various business categories.

Companies across industries of all sizes are now focusing on IoT, which is why IDC has projected a 17% jump from 9.7 billion connected devices in 2014 to more than 25.6 billion in 2019, hitting 30 billion in 2020.

In 2016, enterprise IoT startups will generate two to three times more funding than their consumer counterparts -- the reverse of 2014 when consumer IoT startups raised 15% more venture capital funding.

In the report, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) identified five macro trends for IoT including: consumers expecting a much higher level of automation in their daily lives via a single IoT interface; data monetization as a core competency; regulations driving IoT standards and use cases; more developer tools across low-power devices and IoT platforms; and 5G enabling more autonomous solutions and robotics, as well as ushering in new categories of use cases.

Here's a look some of the biggest IoT opportunities that were identified in Verizon's report.