There's little room to deny that machine-to-machine (M2M) communications as a market has been very much on an upswing lately. With plenty of new technologies driving these systems and plenty of new applications from business to home and beyond stepping in, there's plenty of demand and almost as much supply. But a new report from Infonetics Research—now a part of IHS—suggests that the gains we've seen of late are only the beginning, and the mobile M2M module market is likely to skyrocket in the very near term.
The Infonetics report, dubbed the Mobile M2M Modules report, suggests a huge gain afoot for mobile M2M modules, expecting a climb measuring nearly three-fold from current levels to hit by just the year 2018. This year, according to Infonetics' directing analyst for M2M and IoT John Byrne, the market will bring in $1.6 billion in sales this year, thanks to a series of gains in M2M services at the tier one mobile operator level. That's impressive enough as it sits, but it's set for bigger gains beyond that, as Byrne expected the numbers to reach $4.5 billion by 2018.
What's driving numbers like that? Simply put, it's the sheer impact that the M2M market, along with the Internet of Things (IoT) concept is having on the field. But the report had more specific information about the field to offer as well, noting that the Asia-Pacific market was experiencing the greatest growth in this sector as bolstered by the Chinese market in particular, but also by the rest of the field. The biggest industry looking into M2M technology is the transport segment, mostly thanks to connected car systems, though the utility sector is also seeing growth thanks to changing regulations. Meanwhile, the connection system of choice for M2M is 2G, but 3G and 4G are expected to gain significant ground as 2018 approaches. The biggest three makers in the market—Gemalto / Cinterion, Telit, and Sierra Wireless—account for nearly two out of every three dollars made in the field.
The word of the day for the mobile M2M market, meanwhile, seems to be “opportunity.” The sheer number of applications—the smart home market, the connected car market, smart grid applications, and a host of others—all scream “opportunity” about as loud as a police siren at three in the morning. With gains in technology making for more applications, as well as better applications of what's already on hand—just look at the projected change from 2G to potentially 4G by the end of it all—that means a lot of growth is likely, and that Infonetics' projections likely won't turn out too far off, if off at all. Just recently we saw IoT applications for the household pet market at CES 2015, and with businesses looking to cut costs, the ability to track fleets and the like makes M2M likewise a smart buy. Those are terrific illustrations of what's happening in this market space.
Only time will tell, of course, just how right Infonetics was on this one. But it's likewise clear that there's a lot of room in this market for development, and when there's that much room, big growth isn't necessarily that far behind.
Everyone is talking about M2M and the IoT. If you want to learn more about the strategies you can implement today, hear case studies and get insight from the leaders and innovators in this space, be sure to register and attend M2M Evolution Conference & Expo taking place January 27–30, 2015 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Stay in touch with everything happening at the event -- follow us on Twitter
Edited by
Maurice Nagle
