As one of the most talked about tech trends of the past few years, the Internet of Things (IoT) has had a fair share of starts and stops on its way to omnipresence. In a recent Entrepreneur article, author Catherine Clifford cited Technical Director Gareth Price’s Northside Innovation Festival presentation from earlier this summer. In “Internet of Things: What’s Now, What’s Next and What’s Never,” Gareth engaged the audience to make a critical point about the inertia of IoT.

An excerpt from the article: 

Right now, the Internet of Things (IoT) is primarily the realm of futuristic-minded early tech adopters. Think of the pioneers who use Google Glass to snap pictures, Nest to control their home temperature or turn to their smartphone to dim the light bulbs in their bedroom. In a decade, things will look much different. By 2025, the Internet of Things will become more mainstream, having an economic impact between $3.9 trillion and $11.1 trillion per year, according to a recent economic forecast released by consulting firm McKinsey & Company. The upper figure (including the consumer surplus) could account for as much as 11 percent of the world economy, the report states.

That’s a pretty staggering estimate, especially given that today the Internet of Things is still “in the early stages of growth,” according to the McKinsey report. While IoT has a lot of potential, getting it to become a more established industry could be challenging.

Speaking on an IoT panel at the Northside Innovation Festival in Brooklyn, N.Y. earlier this year, director of technology at Ready Set Rocket, Gareth Price, asked the audience who was currently wearing a connected device (smartphones don’t count). A very few hands poked up. “This is like the hottest technology conference in one of the most connected cities in the world and there are maybe three people wearing a device right now,” said Price, proving his point that wearable technology is still the purview of a stark minority in 2015.

To read the full article, head here.