Yankee Group forecasts revenue from connections alone will approach U.S. $7 billion.
After years of anticipation, the machine-to-machine (M2M) era has finally arrived. A new Yankee Group forecast predicts enterprise cellular M2M connections worldwide will surge from 81.8 million in 2011 to nearly 217.5 million in 2015. In the same time frame, connectivity revenue will more than double from U.S. $3.1 billion to U.S. $6.7 billion, making the M2M market one of the highest growth areas in the wireless arena during the next decade.
The forecast covers ten different M2M market segments, including fleet management, industrial applications, security, consumer telematics, ATM/kiosk/point of sale, mHealth, connected energy, digital signage, pay-as-you-drive insurance and rent-to-own/subprime lending applications. The forecast has led to the following predictions:
- Enterprises seeking to cut costs will drive steady growth in fleet management and ATM, vending and point-of-sale applications. With the recession fresh in the rearview mirror, applications that cut fuel costs, curtail menial tasks and improve work force efficiency will resonate with enterprises. Yankee Group predicts a strong CAGR of 17 percent in these segments.
- Asian markets will significantly close the gap with other regions by 2015. Overall connections in Asia-Pacific countries will grow to 67 million–a CAGR of 30 percent–led by strong growth in China, Korea and Japan.
- Connected energy and mHealth represent massive potential markets over the long term. As utilities increase cooperation with carriers, the use of cellular technology for smart grid and smart metering projects will begin to increase more dramatically in 2014 and 2015. While mHealth has generated substantial buzz in recent months, a dearth of business models and substantial regulatory hurdles may hamper the short-term proliferation of stand-alone cellular devices.
John Keough, Yankee Group research associate and creator of the forecast, said:
“Falling hardware prices and the increased availability of end-to-end solutions have established a more accessible M2M market for enterprises around the world. As early adopters trumpet the success of their deployments, enterprises are turning out in droves to explore how their organizations can profit from M2M technology.”
