Machine to Machine

M2M has ushered in an age where people, machines, devices and networks are all connected and able to interact with one another. Traditional M2M purpose-built devices differ from consumer facing devices. Firstly, consumer-facing devices have a shorter expected life span and they are typically designed with a specific function in mind or single purpose devices.
These single purpose devices are self contained microprocessors and sensors embedded into everyday objects and connected to networks interpreting and transmitting data without the need of human intervention. These devices apply to business, but there are many consumer single purpose devices too. These are called consumer M2M and include a personal GPS unit, a connected photo frame and an ereader. The primary purpose of each of these devices is the transfer of data to make a realtime decision.
A consumer connected device, on the other hand, is considered a multi-purpose product that can serve, among a multitude of uses, a machine to machine function. When discussing the definition of multi-purpose device, they are products connected over a network that receive and transmit data enabled by human intervention. An example is a tablet.
The ereader is considered a single purpose device. The single-purpose action provides an individual with the ability to purchase, download and read ebooks and magazines.
In the case of a tablet, while part of its functionality can be defined as providing an M2M function, this is not the sole purpose of the device. Tablets offer a wide range of functionality, such as HD video, digital cameras, multi-touch display, music and much more. For this reason a tablet is considered a multi-purpose device.
Both an ereader and tablet fall under a broad definition of connected device, based on primary purpose, each device falls under more specific single-purpose and multi-purpose device subsets respectively.