The term IoT was coined by Kevin Ashton in 1999. At that time, most of the data fed to computers was generated by humans; he proposed that the best way would be for computers to take data directly, without any intervention from humans. And so he proposed things such as RFID and sensors, which gather data, should be connected to the network, and feed directly to the computer.
You can read the complete article where Ashton talks about what he means by IoT here: http://www.itrco.jp/libraries/RFIDjournal-That%20Internet%20of%20Things%20Thing.pdf.
Today IoT (also called the internet of everything and sometimes, the fog network) refers to a wide range of things such as sensors, actuators, and smartphones connected to the internet. ...
