Broadcom boosts software with VMware buy: The $61B deal allows the chipmaker to rely less on chips for growth while assembling parts for massive cloud, edge computing, and IoT expansion.

3G shutdowns don’t just affect smartphone holdouts: The year-end transition will affect cellular customers as well as IoT, smart home, and home security systems, potentially pushing more users to 5G.

As IoT-equipped vehicles proliferate, more regulation and transparency are needed to ensure trust in the technology. Go Deeper: Read our Smart Home Forecast for more on privacy and security concerns with IoT.

Marketers will go multichannel via IoT. Remaining channel- and IoT brand-agnostic will be vital for marketers looking to tap into new pools of consumers. Another key for brands will be optimizing for the IoT experience, such as orienting websites to search by spoken question rather than typed terms.

A good opportunity: Technology promises to make life easier, yet managing multiple IoT devices and manually interacting with computers and smartphones can be time-consuming. By integrating AI with sensing functionality into devices, computers will, in theory, do more work while people do less.

The new solar cells can reportedly not only extend the lifespan of solar panels, but also power scores of environmental field sensors and other IoT devices, reducing the need for batteries. In turn, a reduced need for batteries to power devices in remote areas could lead to less environmentally destructive mineral mining.

These will include IoT-focused insurtechs such as Roost, IoT data providers like LexisNexis and Verisk, and device manufacturers including Nest, Canary, and ADT. Trend 2: Embedded Insurance Will Reshape Distribution Strategies. The global embedded insurance market will surpass $70.7 billion in 2025, up from $5.0 billion in 2020, per Lightyear Capital estimates cited by Mitsui & Co.

What this means: Smart home standards have been a tangled mess, with dozens of companies pushing their own protocols for a variety of IoT devices including smart lights, thermostats, locks, security cameras, and appliances.

The number of smart buildings worldwide is projected to climb from 45 million this year to 115 million in 2026, an increase of more than 150%, as demand grows for secure, energy-efficient developments.

New cloud-based tools like Visa Acceptance Cloud let providers embed transaction software into nontraditional devices, opening the door to more IoT payment opportunities. Providers Will Embrace Voice Payments to Complement Other Services. Interest in voice-based payments is middling despite increased smart speaker ownership. US smart speaker ecommerce sales growth plunged last year, per our forecasts.

Even as tech companies pour money into the metaverse, space-based connectivity, and more sophisticated virtual assistants, they’ll face more pressure.

Connected vehicles are changing the nature of transportation and mobility. Players in the traditional automotive ecosystem—including retailers and marketers—are using the massive amounts of data connected cars produce to enhance brand loyalty, create new revenue streams, and drive business growth.

Internet of things. Data analytics. AI and automation. Cloud technologies. Next-generation networks. Internet of Things. Building a smart hospital means embracing IoT, the ecosystem of internet-connected sensors and devices that generate, collect, analyze, and transmit data.

Broadcom’s $61 billion acquisition of VMware points to expansion into emerging cloud and IoT segments. Similarly, Sony’s purchase of gaming studio Bungie for a more modest $3.6 billion indicates a continuing trend in gaming IP acquisition. And let’s not forget Elon Musk’s contentious Twitter acquisition for $43 billion, which remains in limbo.

It could also affect us closer to home with faster IoT and downloads speeds and higher streaming quality. According to Luminous CEO Marcus Gomez, AI models from a decade ago had 100 million parameters at most, taking a single computer an hour to train.