How will we measure the internet of things?

[Commentary] In writing about the plethora of startups, devices and strategies that companies large and small are throwing at the internet of things, I’ve been thinking about market size.

Cisco says it will generate $14.4 trillion in profits by 2022. GE says it will add $10 trillion to $15 trillion in GDP by 2030. These numbers are hard to be believed. For example the federal government only brought in $2.45 trillion in tax revenue in 2012. But there’s also the question of how to measure the market or the value. Do we count the devices themselves? The dollars spent on platforms and services that tie connected devices together? What about subscriptions to wireless networks? In GE’s case it’s counting dollars saved by implementing better data gathering systems. But the whole idea of trying to measure what is fundamentally a technological shift as a market baffles me.