Momentum builds behind embedded mobile; now the real work begins

With many mobile markets around the world already at over 100 percent penetration amid flattening ARPU, this year's Congress was the first time we have seen a concerted push behind the potential of embedded mobile technology (sometimes referred to as M2M) as the industry's next growth driver. The concept of an 'Internet of things' has been touted for a while (with carriers such as China Mobile, AT&T, KPN, Telefonica and T-Mobile already announcing their own trials and initiatives), but there's now a real sense that operators and vendors are highly motivated to make this market work. Ericsson's forecast on the first day of Congress that it expects to see 50 billion connected devices by 2020 set the tone, with the world's largest mobile network vendor claiming that this timeframe will coincide with some markets hitting 500 percent mobile penetration (Ericsson also predicts 7 billion total mobile devices within five years). New developments at the event included Vodafone, Verizon Wireless and nPhase (a Verizon Wireless/Qualcomm JV) teaming up in an effort to bolster adoption of M2M deployments in Europe and the US.

The sector also has serious support from industry association the GSMA, visible by the presence of a large Embedded Mobile Zone at the show (with partners Accenture and Qualcomm), publication of a set of industry guidelines, and the award of Embedded Mobile competition winners. Elsewhere, Telefonica announced its decision to invest in connected e-book readers and stressed its commitment to encourage growth of connected devices for e-learning in the education sector, whilst Nokia and Intel's move to merge their Linux initiatives sees the duo target a broad range of connected consumer electronics. Meanwhile, Deutsche Telekom launched an International Competence Center to drive M2M innovation, and Accenture (in partnership with the GSMA) also released the results of an in-depth study on embedded that pinpointed challenges and opportunities. Certainly, 2010 will be a critical year for implementation of embedded mobile technology, with telematics, consumer electronics, healthcare and smart grids the biggest areas of opportunity. Controlling the hype (see Ericsson's forecast above), ensuring supply of interoperable, low-cost modules, and demystifying the various platform offerings from vendors (in what is already a very fragmented market) will be key to ensuring the latest iteration of this sector has legs.

(This article is part of a series of follow-ups on Mobile World Congress 2010 from the GSMA Intelligence team.)