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Chapter 4 Hardware, Software, and Mobile Systems
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Figure 4-5
Smartphone Development
Source: Grgroup/Fotolia

The iPhone, for example, was introduced by Apple Inc., a computing hardware and software
company. The mobile phone market was already mature. Industry leaders could have created a
smartphone, but they didn’t. Apple’s success with portable audio players (iPod) and mobile phones
(iPhone) was a shot across the bow of other hardware manufacturers. A wave of smart devices is
coming.

Impact of the Internet of Things

The impact of IoT will be felt by many different high-tech industries. Smart devices need micropro-
cessors, memory, wireless network connections, a power source, and new software. These devices
will also need new protocols, more bandwidth, and tighter security, and they will consume more
energy.
A good example of this push toward smart devices is General Electric’s (GE) Industrial Inter-
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net. GE’s Industrial Internet is a broad program focused on creating smart devices, analyzing the
data from these devices, and then making changes that increase efficiencies, reduce waste, and
improve decision making. GE sees the greatest potential for smart devices in hospitals, power grids,
railroads, and manufacturing plants.
GE estimates that an average airline using smart devices in its jet aircraft could save an
average of 2 percent in fuel consumption. The resulting fuel and carbon dioxide savings would be
the equivalent of removing 10,000 cars from the road. 8
Microsoft has also made tremendous gains using smart devices. Microsoft has created a
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network of 125 smart buildings spread over 500 acres in Redmond, Washington (Figure 4-6). Its
operations center processes 500 million data transactions every day from 30,000 devices, includ-
ing heaters, air conditioners, lights, fans, and doors.
Microsoft engineers were able to reduce energy costs by 6 percent to 10 percent a year by
identifying problems like wasteful lighting, competing heating and cooling systems, and rogue
fans. For Microsoft, that’s millions of dollars. What if every corporate building were a smart