The Internet of Things (IoT) is a fundamental shift in our world – but it is not the first shift we’ve seen of this magnitude. IoT is our fourth industrial revolution. As with all others, it will create winners and losers. One loser may be the hardware model, as software models emerge powerful and sticky – with commoditizing hardware only serving to stretch the reach of software. Under this threat, many hardware companies are seeking software models, and some hardware giants are investing in software startups to get ahead of the wave.
There will also be unintended human consequences of the IoT paradigm shift. It will both solve problems and create new ones… an entrepreneur’s dream. Below is one view on the IoT – what it means to entrepreneurs, investors and all of us as humans.
I am lucky to be on this ride with our portco, TempoIQ, which started my thinking on this.