In 2015, A Hugely Hyped $70 Billion Market Will Arrive

If you aren't familiar with the "Internet of Things," hold onto your hat. You are standing on the threshold of it.

As early as next year, the Internet of Things will swoop your life up and carry you into a sci-fi-like future where every inanimate object in your world will get a sensor, become "smart," and be controlled by an app: your car, your fridge, your pill bottle, your toothbrush, your lamps, your street lights, your keys...

That's what the market researchers say, anyway.

Next year, 4.9 billion connected "things" will be in use, up 30% from 2014, according to new research from Gartner. And by 2020, there will be more than 20 billion connected devices in use.

In 2015, services that support IoT will amount to a $69.5 billion industry, Gartner predicts. And spending on these apps will hit $263 billion by 2020.

By 2019, the total economic impact of IoT will be huge: $1.7 trillion added to the global economy, BI Intelligence reports.

The three industries that will be first up to adopt IoT tech is manufacturing (new "smart" devices), utilities ("smart" meters) and transportation ("smart" traffic lights and public transit systems), Gartner says.