There is no shortage of IoT research numbers. But here are some stats from Compass Intelligence that offer an interesting perspective on the IoT mobile network front. The research firm’s June 2015 Cellular IoT Forecast for Business and Consumer reports indicate that the IoT market for business will be the biggest driver for IoT, despite the fact that it’s the consumer apps that get all the attention.
According to Compass, IoT cellular connections will grow from 42.0 million at that end of 2014 to 203.1 million in 2020, at a compound annual growth rather (CAGR) of 30%. Of that overall number, business IoT connections for cellular will grow from 20.3 million to 145.6 million – a CAGR of 37.7%. By way of comparison CAGR for consumer IoT is only 17.7%.
To date the biggest applications for business have been fleet tracking and portable asset tracking. In future, Compass predicts that retail applications (e.g. point-of-sale transaction terminals and digital signage) will top usage.
Consumer apps today are led by connected cars; but by 2020 the dominant apps will be smart home and alarm monitoring systems.
Last but not least, industrial IoT (e.g. industrial and building automation solutions) is expected to show a whopping CAGR growth rate of 60%.
Given all the opportunities, service providers will definitely be putting some thought into making sure indoor cellular coverage is up to the challenge. And Cel-Fi will be right there with some answers.
See additional Compass Intelligence research reports on M2M, IoT, and Connected Devices.
What do you think will be in store for IoT apps over the next 5 years?
By the Cel-Fi Team