Next Smart War

The Internet of Things refers to everything we own being connected to the Internet.
The Internet of Things refers to everything we own being connected to the Internet.

 

Apple has jumped into machine-to-machine (M2M) related services such as healthcare and smart home services by showcasing iOS8, which is a new mobile operating system. The industry is paying attention to whether or not there will be another smart war, as the US-based tech giant that leads the mobile trend has started to compete with Google and Samsung Electronics to dominate the M2M market.

Apple unveiled new software-related technologies and services in the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2014 held at the Moscone Center, San Francisco on June 2 (local time). 

In particular, iOS8 received a lot of attention because it is equipped with healthcare and smart home-related new functions, which makes it possible to predict Apple’s future direction in Internet of Things (IoT)-related services. 

Due to the showcasing of M2M-related services by Apple, competition in the market is likely to heat up. According to the National Information Society Agency, the global M2M market is expected to be worth about 9 quadrillion won (US$8.9 trillion) by 2020. An increasing number of the basic essentials of life, from clothing to household appliances, feature communications nowadays.  

Apple’s rival company Samsung is intensifying its efforts to dominate the market. It introduced the Galaxy S5 fitted with many health-related functions including a heart rate sensor and an S Health app. The company also revealed its digital health strategy. Since the Korean tech giant has a lineup of various home appliances, the firm is considered to have great potential in the M2M field. Google is also accelerating efforts to dominate the related market, as seen by its acquisition of home gadget maker Nest Labs for US$3.2 billion in January this year. The search engine giant is expanding its M2M technology to vast areas of people’s lives, as shown by the launch of Google Glass and Google’s driverless car.

Observers say that as global enterprises are actively seeking to provide M2M-related services through the communication between a smartphone and another device, M2M will be the biggest arena of competition.

Copyright © BusinessKorea. Prohibited from unauthorized reproduction and redistribution