of IP traffic by 2016 (91 billion gigabytes per month)
51%
of the world's population will be Internet users by 2018
The Data Economy
Data is more valuable in the presence of other data, and we desparately need new rules and regualtions to manage, store, and protect our personal information. When we authenticate with Facebook, Google, Twitter, or even just enter our email, we our trading our data for goods and services. Our data is then grouped, sliced, diced, and sold to advertisers. In other words, if the app you're using is free, then you (the user) is the product.
Why does this matter? Well if we apply Moore's Law, Metcalfe's Law, and the Law of Accelerating returns to the Internet of Things (IoT), we can infer that the exponential growth of IP devices, traffic, and users will create a data gold rush.
Father: "Ask me how much we used to pay for VPN's when I was your age?" Son: "Okay fine. How much?" Father: "I don't know, we never used 'em!" [laughter]
People often (although not often enough) discuss what our carbon footprint does to our planet. With regards to 2015 and beyond, we'll also need to think about what our data footprint does to our society. Until we can take strong measures secure to our data properly, we will continue to live in the wild wild west of cybersecurity. As we begin to explore IoT devices in the next few sections, keep in mind how they fit into the larger data economy.
Smart Home
$71Bn
industry by 2018 according to Juniper Research
48%
of IoT sales will be home automation related by 2019 (SA)
The seemingly slow uptake for connected home and smart home technology has more to do with perceived complexity and lack of a clear consumer value proposition than it has to do with the technology. Smart thermostats, clocks, locks, appliances, light bulbs, and practically everything else you can think of already exists. What’s missing? Compelling reasons to purchase.
The biggest issue in the smart home space is interoperability. The market is still mostly siloed by manufacturers or chip makers. While the ZigBee alliance was a great start, the real players will be Apple (via HomeKit) and Google (via Nest Labs). Nest began with a smart thermostat, but has spread its “Works with Nest” ecosystem to be compatible with Jawbone, Mercedes, Dropcam, hue, Whirlpool appliances, and most importantly the IFTTT app. Apple fans will enjoy the first approved Apple HomeKit devices in 2015 and we expect them to be massively popular. Again though, with so many new connected devices so close to our day-to-day lives and the lives of our loved ones, privacy and data protection will be the utmost concern.
Autos
For years, major car companies have been trying to reinvent the wheel with car computers-trying to prove to us that they are tech companies. However, the manufacturers that are still trying to build their own custom systems are about to be eclipsed by Google and Apple. They not only have the engineering teams, they also have the benefit of controlling end-to-end multi-screen UI/UX. In 2015, we'll see the release of Android Auto as well as Apple CarPlay, and these couldn't come any sooner.
58%
US consumers want Android or CarPlay, and not a car company systems
By 2020, 60-75% of cars Internet enabled. AT&T has the largest number of car companies signed up as partners in connected cars with a total of 8 manufacturers including Nissan, BMW, Ford, Tesla, GM, Audi, Volvo, and GM Europe. Verizon has half as many with Mercedes, VW, Toyota, and Hyundai. Projections are that this new connected device will be generating B by 2018. And by 2020, Gartner projects that there will be 150M cars connected to the Internet.
Self-driving cars
According to the World Health Organization, more than 1.2 million lives are lost every year in road traffic accidents. Autonomous vehicles will be safer, more reliable, and fuel efficient than today's cars. While unmanned ride-sharing will certainly be fantastic for consumers, unmanned vehicles will revolutionize shipping. In a November 2013 research note on Tesla Inc. Morgan Stanley predicted that driverless cars will generate $1.3 trillion in annual savings in the United States, with over $5.6 trillions of savings worldwide. Real question on everyone's mind: Will Uber drivers protest when they are replaced with self-driving cars?
The future is almost here
Google released a functional prototype of its fully autonomous vehicle in May. Ironically, since it lacks a steering wheel and breaks, it does not meet current California State Vehicle Regualtions...oops.
Google Self-Driving Car Project
Driver-assist: the short-term solution
While we won't see fully autonomous vehicles on the road this year, we will see a host of driver-assist solutions. Lane-assist, automatic speed control, attention-sensing, parking, breaking, and augmented-reality HUDs will all be front and center at CES. Until Washington, the Valley, and Detroit sort out autonomous regulations, this is the next best thing.