The trend is impossible to ignore and the experts all agree: The market for wearables - small, wearable devices such as fitness wristbands or computer watches - is finally on the verge of a breakthrough in 2015.
The fact is that more and more devices will have Internet access in the future. The digital aids do not just measure your pulse, provide information on your running style, or record your sleeping pattern - they also allow you to communicate with friends on social networks and monitor your smart home from anywhere. Even clothing and shoes are being connected. Estimates suggest that everyone will own five to ten connected devices by 2020.
However, many devices, or even textiles, are simply not suited for embedding a standard SIM card. What, then, could be more obvious than to integrate them directly? With the development of eSIM, Telekom is going one step further in terms of networking. Telekom sees the embedded SIM card as an opportunity and for many years has been strongly involved in international committees to develop an open eSIM standard. "Whether it's for wearables or machine-to-machine, eSIMs offer huge opportunities. But all of that will only be possible if we work together as an industry on an interoperable solution instead of having a race among isolated solutions. We need an open eSIM standard," says Claudia Nemat, Board member for Europe and Technology at Telekom.
In doing so, the telecommunications group is focusing on simplicity and is providing a first-time explanation in Barcelona of what such a new eSIM world might look like. A contract with a standardized world of services enables all devices to be activated with just one click, without the slightest effort. By simply scanning the bar code on a new product with your smartphone, this new product will be activated and connected to other incorporated devices or products. This also includes being able to manage more devices than before via the contract.
Nevertheless, this scenario is still a long way off. However, Telekom is convinced that the new eSIM standard will be launched on the market from 2016 and will take off in 2017. With its enormous commitment to the development of an open eSIM standard, the Bonn Group is once again emphasizing its goal to become the leading European telecommunications company.