Peter Cowley

Visiting the Mobile World Congress

Having spent two foot-weary days at the Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona, I have come away with 5 conclusions:

  1. Fixed IT and the mobile markets, although conceived from different parents: one data processing and the other voice calls, have collided, and mobile will win
  2. The money and growth (although at less margin) is to be made in the developing world, over the next decade
  3. The operators need to work out how to monetise data usage, which is growing exponentially, whilst voice calls are declining rapidly
  4. The money in apps is spread amongst 100K’s of developers, whereas there is concentration of revenue and profit in organisations that promote app adoption
  5. There is little sign of M2M (machine-to-machine) yet, although the predictions are for the Internet of Things to drive the number of mobile connected devices from about 5 billion now, to 100+ billion within 10 years
However, I will be re-soling my shoes and be back in 2014, because there is more buzz there, than in most other technology sectors.

The Internet of Things

The IoT (Internet of Things) and M2M (Machine to Machine) communication comprises objects (”things”) that are connected to the Internet at all times and anywhere, through wired and wireless networks.

The objects can be passive (such as a painting or tree) or active (such as a CO2 sensor or traffic light). The “things” can be integrated into homes workplaces and public places and will provide data and/or be controlled remotely.

In this way, any object can be connected and will “manifest itself” over the Internet.  Furthermore, in IoT, any object can be a data source. This will transform the way we do business, the running of the public sector and the day-to-day life of billions of people.

There will be commercial and physical challenges in establishing global ubiquitous network connectivity, but the opportunities to assist the human race is boundless and not yet imagined. 

The IoT & M2M communication market is expected to grow from £30+ billion in 2011 to £200+ billion by 2017 at an estimated CAGR of 30%.

Get in contact to see how Camdata can facilitate your business to play a part in these developments.