The enterprise market will drive hardware spending in the IoT market next year, but its dominance will be shortlived, according to new research.
Businesses will spend $868 billion (€810bn) next year on IoT-related hardware as the number of devices hits 2.4 billion, according to Gartner’s latest forecast.
The forecast includes generic or cross-industry devices that are used in multiple industries, and vertical-specific devices that are found in particular sectors.
Gartner analyst Jim Tully said: "Connected things for specialised use are currently the largest category, however, this is quickly changing with the increased use of generic devices.
“By 2020, cross-industry devices will dominate the number of connected things used in the enterprise.”
The consumer market will attract $546 billion (€510bn) of hardware spending in 2016 but will account for a larger number of connected devices – four billion.
The tables turn in 2020, however, as spending on consumer hardware outpaces that of business hardware by 180 percent to 70 percent compared to 2016.
Meanwhile, the number of connected consumer devices is expected to reach 13.5 billion in five years time versus 7.3 billion enterprise-focused devices.
On top of the number of devices and hardware spending, the research firm predicts that the IoT will support services spending of $235 billion (€219bn) in 2016, up 22 percent from 2015.
[Read more: Analyst firm slaps down 'unrealistic' and 'potentially damaging' IoT predictions]
Services are dominated by businesses contracting external providers to design, install and operate IoT systems, but connectivity - via operators – and consumer services will grow at a faster pace.
Tully commented: “IoT services are the real driver of value in IoT, and increasing attention is being focused on new services by end-user organisations and vendors.”