Wireless at a Crossroads

As they say, all good things must come to an end. After years of record profits and soaring subscriber numbers, the U.S. wireless market is now becoming saturated, with over 90% of adults in the U.S. owning a cell phone, according to Pew Research Center. The heady growth cannot continue without another swell of innovation spurring new sales, which does not appear immediately forthcoming. Pundits posit that machineto-machine wireless (M2M) will be “the next big thing,” shifting the question to how to profit from the “Internet of things.” With a slowdown in the wave of game-changing technology, consumers are now value-conscious and much more inclined to use pre-paid service than they used to be.