Juniper Research (News - Alert) has quantified the M2M market at $35B in service revenues. The M2M here is Mobile-to-Machines and represents carrier opportunities.

For wireless operators the M2M emphasis is on mobility, and vehicles are probably the easiest sale. According to the report over $14B will be automotive applications in 2016.

“Industries are at different stages of development when it comes to M2M,” said Anthony Cox (News - Alert) of Juniper Research. “Commercial automotive telematics are driven by the requirement for fuel efficiency which engine management systems can deliver,” he added, noting that in-car entertainment systems and infotainment will support telematics growth in the consumer vehicle market.

One of the reasons for telematics is regulatory initiatives such as Europe’s eCall vehicle safety initiative.

In previous articles we have talked about Ford’s work with University of Michigan students to highlight the ability to develop applications like Follow Me services.

Other sectors identified by the report as having particular potential included: consumer and commercial telematics; smart metering; point of sale; retail; banking; mobile health monitoring; smart buildings and security.

The report finds that areas such as remote monitoring in the healthcare sector, will take longer to develop but also hold significant promise in the long term.

The report includes a comprehensive analysis of the current state of play in the embedded mobile and M2M markets and contains five year forecasts for M2M device numbers, service revenues, connectivity enablement revenues and data traffic values.

In September at our M2M event we are not focused on the motorist but the contents of the vehicles with remote access services. This may not be the cat’s meow for the carriers, but for industry asset management in distribution, it is a critical component of delivering solutions. Based on the numbers from Juniper Research a good SWAG is that service revenue is a 10^th of the total M2M market opportunity. The product space then is as interesting as the service space for M2M and we intend to show you both.