There is no question that machine-to-machine (M2M) is attracting attention on a global scale. While many might say M2M is a nascent industry sector, the forecast of $10 billion worldwide in 2013 provides proof of the already significant market in key M2M verticals such as utilities, transport and automotive. At the end of 2013, there will be 200 million M2M device connections worldwide across various industry segments. This will increase to 2.2 billion by 2023 representing $88 billion according to the latest research from Analysys Mason.
Future growth will emerge from tailored applications for local markets, large enterprises and SMEs across existing high growth verticals as well as emerging ones. In Part 1 of the M2M series, we focused on the cool applications being developed for the Internet-of-things. For those hopeful entrepreneurs and companies out there who are busy prototyping such devices let me offer a couple of suggestions based on our experience with previous cycles of technology innovation.