The wearables market is a subset of the Internet of Things, and we here do try to stay away from talking about IoT because it’s such a huge topic. But the Energy Harvesting Journal has made an interesting attempt to illustrate the IoT ecosystem — and, as a result, find a place in it for wearables.
The publication separates the IoT world generally into three groups:
- a closed world of sensor-laden devices without IP addresses. These are mostly proprietary corporate systems
- a world of corporate devices connected to the Net
- an Internet of People, with IP-enabled devices worn by people for consumer applications. This includes that most people think of as wearable technology but also includes smartphones, and borders on home automation and vehicles, which have a lot in common with corporate devices.
It’s notable that the Internet of People, in this ecosystem, is far and away the smallest of the three groups.