Dive Brief:
- U.S. mobile operators are now adding IoT connections to their networks faster than they’re adding phones, according to Chetan Sharma Consulting.
- Approximately 1.4 million cars were connected to cellular networks in the second quarter, according to Chetan Sharma. In comparison, 1.2 million phones and less than 900,000 tablets were connected in the same time period.
- Car companies in particular are adding IoT connections at a rapid pace, using such connections to monitor the condition of their vehicles, among other things.
Dive Insight:
IoT connections are projected to grow from 4.9 billion connected devices in 2015 to 12.2 billion by 2020, according to Cisco’s recent Visual Networking Index report.
But live cellular connections in cars have yet to catch on with consumers, many of whom already have network connections available via their smartphones.
But IoT connections can also be used for a wide variety of other uses, and cellular carriers are preparing for IoT to take off.
Within two years IoT will be the "single greatest source of data on the planet," said Neil Postlethwaite, director of IBM Watson IoT Foundation platform and Device Ecosystem Offering Management.
Gartner recently predicted there will be 25 billion or more IoT devices connected by 2020.
