3. M2M market set to take off

According to Machina Research, the number of machine-to-machine connections world-wide will grow from 2 billion at the end of 2011 and an expected 2.4 billion at end of 2012, to 18 billion in 2022 – driven by the consumer electronics and intelligent building sectors, which together will account for 70% of the total.

By the same date, total market revenue will reach $1.2 trillion, compared to just $200 million in 2011. Two-thirds of that figure will come from devices and installation, but one third – $400 billion – will come from M2M services alone. Ninety percent of that $400 billion will be generated via the service wrap while just 10% (or $9 billion) will come from the provision of basic mobile connectivity, according to Machina. That means the largest growth in the M2M market is going to be in the services area, particularly around software as a service (SaaS).

In 2013, more firms will face the realization that along with all the great benefits of M2M come a number of management headaches. For example: Given the expected scale of new MDM device usage, firms will require very good management and administration. Imagine having to order 100,000 SIM cards, knowing which service numbers are associated with each device, which are activated, spare or faulty, matching this to the vendors billing information etc.

Finally, next year will start to see the introduction of alternative communications methods for M2M devices, because SMS is not the cheapest technology or the most practical for every scenario – look out for very cheap “white space” radio technology''

http://www.rcrwireless.com/article/20130108/wireless/2013-predictions-top-10-telecom-trends-2013-what-watch-coming-year/

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