I was in the audience tonight for Mashup’s Internet of Things event tonight during which we were promised an insight into the profitable applications of the future.

The Internet of Things is much like technologies before it such as mobile computing, digital assistants and location based marketing. It’s been around the corner for years and has been slow to go mature.

The Internet fridge is no more nearer being a mass market consumer product today than it was when it was first touted in 1999.

But then as we discovered tonight the challenges of the Internet of Things go way beyond technology.

David Orban said that the Internet of Things is already here it’s simply that applications are largely business-to-business focused buried within a supply chain that deliver significant (financial) value. Vehicle tracking, supply chain management and control grids were all cited as examples.

The panel baited the audience with the dream of millions of pervasive consumer devices that could share data and interoperate. It’s hugely compelling.

But Niall Murphy, co-founder of The Cloud, and founder of Everythng (sic), said that devices need to be made low cost, data needed to be open standard, and only then would developers spot market opportunities for applications.

Other issues raised by the panellists included networks, privacy, security and standards. In the meantime my conclusion is that profitable applications will be limited to the business-to-business market.