Internet of Many Things
The era in which 6.4 billion electronics worldwide could be controlled by one smart device is expected to begin in five years.
Among smart home appliances, smart meters, and health care devices, the number of devices tethered to smart devices will reach around 6.4 billion in 2020, according to Machina Research, a British consulting firm specializing in the Internet of Things (IoT), on June 26. A total of 4.3 billion smart home appliances are likely to connect to smart devices, and the number is expected to reach 1.5 billion for smart meters and 590 million for health care-related devices.
Smart home appliances refer to consumer electronic products with an Internet access function, and smart meters are electronic devices that records consumption of electric energy per hour and automatically sends that information to the utility for billing. Health care devices are those necessary for remotely-controlled checkups or health consulting.
The global smart appliance market was estimated at about US$37.72 billion (42.54 trillion won) in 2014, and the market is expected to grow twofold this year to exceed US$62.66 billion (69.8596 trillion won).
This kind of market growth will continue for several years, and the market is projected to be worth around US$340 billion (379.66 trillion won) by 2020, according to market research firm Pike Researach.
The nation's smart home market is in a very nascent stage, though. The local smart home market is predicted to surpass approximately 10 trillion won (US$8.9 billion) this year, and 18 trillion won (US$16 billion) in 2017, according to a report on the local smart home industry in 2013 released by the Korea Association of Smart Homes (KASH).
The local smart home market is highly likely to develop led by the home entertainment market like TVs. The KASH estimates that the home entertainment market, centered on smart TVs, will reach 5.432 trillion won (US$4.831 billion), accounting for half of the total smart home market.
Both large companies and small and medium-sized enterprises at home are intensifying efforts to develop smart home devices. And three local mobile carriers have already developed networks and integrated platforms to connect smart home devices, actively seeking to commercialize them.
On June 25, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning also established a measure to add the 8 GHz spectrum, dubbed the “K-ICT Free Band,” which can be used in various ways including the IoT in the frequency band from hundreds of MHz up to hundreds of GHs. The measure is aimed to create new industries by facilitating the introduction of ICT convergence services.