Many commentators have touted the Internet of Things as being the next big revolution in terms of the total number of computers, exceeding that of the whole body of modern mobile devices today, smartphones and tablet computers. That is true. However, there is an implicit message contained in such statements that is not true.
It has been understood that smartphones have tremendously eclipsed the sales of desktops and laptops, not just in number of units sold, but also in tons of hardware sold annually and annual revenue in U.S. dollars. Similarly, people spend enough time accessing the Internet on mobile devices such that the total network traffic coming from such devices rivals that of desktops and laptops. Essentially, not only do the number of mobile devices eclipse that of desktops and laptops, but also the revenue and Internet traffic eclipses that of desktops and laptops.