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'IoT' is shorthand for four very different industries, each with its own price ceilings, certification regime, expected lifespan, and security posture. A consumer doorbell ($200, 5-year life, FCC Part 15, software updates over the wire forever) shares almost nothing with an industrial pressure sensor ($5,000, 20-year life, ATEX explosive-atmosphere certification, no internet at all). Knowing which category you're in dictates which compromises are acceptable and which ones will end the company.
The four industries, side by side.
Category CONSUMER IoT INDUSTRIAL IoT SMART CITY AUTOMOTIVE
(CIoT) (IIoT) (smart grid, (V2X, ECUs,
parking, lights) telematics)
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Price target $20-$500 $500-$50,000 $200-$5,000 $50-$5,000 per
ECU; product
total $25k-$100k
Expected life 3-5 years 10-25 years 8-15 years 10-20 years
(vehicle life)
Power source Mains or LiPo Mains, sometimes Solar, mains, Vehicle 12V,
4-20mA loop power line tap 48V hybrid
Software updates Over-the-air, Manual; risk- Rare; OTA OTA increasingly
indefinite averse; sometimes gateways standard (Tesla
never (cellular) pioneered)
Network Wi-Fi, BLE Ethernet/PROFINET, Cellular (LTE-M, CAN, LIN, FlexRay,
Modbus, OPC-UA, NB-IoT), LoRa Ethernet AVB/TSN,
cellular mesh 5G C-V2X
Certifications FCC/CE, RoHS, ATEX, IECEx, ETSI city ISO 26262 (safety),
UL SIL-2/3, ISA-95, profiles AEC-Q100 (parts),
IEC 61131-3 UNECE R155 (cyber)
Security posture Convenience > Air-gapped or Variable — Safety + cyber;
security; OTA isolated; "patch municipalities isolated CAN,
updates are on the next lag mTLS gateways
expected shutdown"
Typical buyer Individual Plant engineer Government / OEM (Ford, BMW)
utility or Tier-1 supplier
What kills you Bad reviews, Liability lawsuit, Procurement Recall, fatality,
support cost, plant fire, contract loss cyber-incident on
regulatory ban downtime $$ + media millions of cars