U.S. population outnumbered by internet-connected devices

If an artificial intelligence was going to take over all of our devices and destroy humanity, now would be the time to do it. Likewise, a plot from CoD: Black Ops 2 would also be prime right now. Or if the government — if they arne't already — wanted to use devices to spy on our activity, there's no time like the present. The NPD Group's connectivity research branch, Connected Intelligence, reported today that there are more devices in U.S. homes that are connected to the internet than there are United States residents. That's right, we are outnumbered.

The information in the report was gathered from a survey of 4,000 US consumers 18 and older in the last quarter of 2012. Internet-connected devices being counted in the survey were desktops and laptops with broadband devices, smartphones, tablets, video game consoles, HDTVs directly connected, Blu-ray players and boxes for streaming media — like a Roku. The report says that U.S. homes boast 425 million internet-connected devices compared to a population of 315 million. The breakdown of the devices are:

• Desktops & laptops – 183.8 million
• Smartphones – 133 million
• Video game consoles – 39 million
• Tablets – 31.8 million
• HDTVs directly connected – 16 million
• Blu-ray players – 12.9 million
• Streaming media set top boxes – 8.5 million

NPD's Connected Intelligence director John Buffone said:

Through 2013, multi-screen and multi-device synergy will lead the growth in the broader connected device market, but only if services consumers desire are delivered in a simplistic manner […] In this connected world, content providers and consumer technology OEMs need to determine the optimal mix of services and have them on the right devices."

The results of the report are not surprising. In my household — which consists of my wife and I and two children (ages 3 and 3 months) — we have a Wii U, Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS, Blu-ray player, Smart LED HDTV, Roku, iPad, two iPhones, a PC and a laptop. That's 11 internet-connected devices being counted for two U.S. citizens over the age of 18. And I know the elderly don't even know how to work the internet, so that factors in.

You can follow Senior Editor Lance Liebl on Twitter @Lance_GZ. He likes talking sports, video games, movies, and the stupidity of celebrities. Email at LLiebl@GameZone.com

[NPD]