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The Internet of Things movement is in proud full swing, with just about every tech firm out there developing for it and trying to get their name out there in some way. Just about everything from your refrigerator to your air freshener is on its way to smart functionality and the companies wanting a piece of the pie are all hard at work innovating in the space. An analytics firm known simply as IoT Analytics gathered up data to name the biggest players in the space. Interestingly, rather than ranking them based on the ratings or quantity of their products, the companies have been ranked based on how often they’re talked about and in what light. The firm stated that they evaluated more than 2,000 worldwide companies based on social media engagement, mentions on the web and tags on LinkedIn. Scores are calculated for each company based on a number of variables and are handed out from 100 down to 1 per variable, then averaged to create an overall score for each company.
That said, Samsung has scored the number 9 slot with a score of 28 percent, making them top dog of Android OEMs in the IoT world. Intel naturally came in at number one, boasting a whopping 71 percent score, while LG managed to at least get in the top 20, with the 11th slot and a fairly respectable 27 percent score. Apple got in on the action as well, besting rivals Samsung and LG with a 29 percent score and landing themselves in the 7th slot. Java creator Oracle Corp. scored 28 percent as well, falling just below Samsung. SAP SE, an enterprise software outfit hailing from Germany, also scored 28 percent, beating out Samsung for number 8. HP beat out Apple for spot number 6 with a jump to 41 percent, being edged out by 5th placer Cisco Systems at 51 percent and the ever-present Google landing themselves just ahead of that at 53 percent, earning slot number four. At the 56 percent mark, Microsoft fits snugly into the third slot. With a whopping 11 percent jump, ancient behemoth IBM shows they’re all good for the new age of computing by scoring the number 2 slot.
Each company has their separate niche in the IoT world, with Cisco showing strong chops in connectivity, while Intel does what they do best with new silicon to support the new era. IBM and Microsoft are making themselves out to be huge players in the platform world, likely to lay claim to the backends of tens of thousands of different IoT devices in the end. Interestingly, Samsung was the only non-American firm to get into the top ten. Huawei did manage to get into the top 20, nabbing the 18th spot with a 15 percent score. With IoT in its infancy, it’s still anybody’s race, but this data makes it pretty clear who is going to rule a few categories overall.