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Berg Insight: With 2% of mobile network connections, machines are far from from taking over the world

Categories: Research
By: , IntoMobile
Sunday, December 26th, 2010 at 3:54 AM

Berg Insight has found that only 2% of the mobile network connections worldwide were used for wireless machine-to-machine (M2M) communication at the end of 2010, growing 46% year-on-year to an estimated 81.4 million. In the next five years, the total number of wireless M2M connections is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 32.0% to reach 294.1 million connections in 2015. Don’t be afraid though, because at the point, machines will account for only 4% of the total number of connections.

According to the research company’s Tobias Ryberg, M2M and connected devices are now one of the main drivers behind the growth in mobile subscribers in Europe and North America, with all of the world’s largest telecom operators having several million M2M subscribers in their mobile networks. During the first quarter of next year, it is expected that AT&T emerges as the first mobile operator to reach 10 million M2M subscribers after more than doubling the installed base in the past 12 months.

Mr. Ryberg goes on talking about current trends where customers no longer have one or two mobile subscriptions, but up to five or more different wireless devices. Besides his smartphone and tablet, a tech-savvy American could own an e-book reader and a connected PND, drive a car with an embedded telematics system and have a cellular security alarm installed at home. His Scandinavian compatriot could have a smart electricity meter with embedded GPRS connectivity, a Frenchman may use a cellular speed control warning system and an Italian might have installed a car telematics device from his insurance company…

About The Author

Dusan Belic

Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.

  • http://twitter.com/Jose_GD José González DAmico

    Dusan, the title says “machines are from from taking over the world”.
    Maybe you meant “machines are FAR from taking over the world”?

  • http://www.facebook.com/dusan.belic Dusan Belic

    Good catch. Guess I was too tired. :)