According to Internal Data Corporation, internet of things (IoT) market in Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APeJ) is expected to be worth $583 billion by 2020.
The research firm expects the IoT industry in the APeJ region to grow at a strong pace, with the number of units, or ?things?, connected to increase from 3.1 billion to 8.6 billion by 2020. Going forward, China will continue to dominate the IoT market in the Asia Pacific region and emerge as one of the leading IoT markets globally with nearly one out of every five units connected in the country by 2020.
IDC has emphasised that IoT industry has matured considerably over the past year, with a number of large government initiatives across APeJ, and China in particular, driving demand for IoT. The increase in market demand has led to a greater focus on IoT from leading information technology vendors, as well as start-ups – with each keen to grab their share of the growing IoT market.
Further, the research firm has made a distinction between market size and market maturity. While the market opportunity for IoT industry in China are more than the other leading countries such as South Korea, India, Indonesia and Australia in terms of dollar value, however this does not make China the most mature IoT market. To assess the maturity of a market, IDC compares the total number of things connected to the overall population to get a connections per capita figure. Based on this calculation, it has identified that South Korea, Australia and New Zealand are the top three most mature markets with China placed sixth out of the 13 APeJ countries.
As per the research firm the government segment will be the key growth driver for IoT industry as national, regional and city governments will leverage IoT solutions to drive new revenue streams, reduce costs and enhance citizen services as part of smart government initiatives. Utilities, manufacturing, healthcare and retail will be other key growth sectors for IoT.
