Last week on Pro: the internet of things and cleantech, Mailbox.app and more

If you’re in the midst of a Presidents’ Day break, be sure to download our latest podcast (the iWatch, Dr. Big Data and more) to keep you entertained and updated. And if you’ve got road trip envy, check out Katie Fehrenbacher’s take on the Tesla/New York Times debacle, which riled up automotive enthusiasts and clean tech advocates alike.

Meanwhile, over on GigaOM Pro, our analysts are looking at how the internet of things will impact the connected (and electric) car, the future of software-defined networking, and what’s next in social networking.

Note: GigaOM Pro is a subscription-based research service offering in-depth, timely analysis of developing trends and technologies. Visit pro.gigaom.com to learn more about it.

Cleantech: Cleantech and the internet of things
Adam Lesser

The internet of things (IoT) is quickly gaining traction (and buzz) among investors and industry forecasters alike. GigaOM’s own Stacey Higginbotham deemed IoT “the new land grab for chip makers” in a recent post, and analyst Adam Lesser agrees with her, citing the importance of chips, sensors, and radios in the world of cleantech. As devices such as connected cars and smartmeters become part of the mainstream (and not just cleantech-focused) consumer landscape, the internet of things – and the components that power it – will become an increasingly vital component as well.

Cloud: Forecast: sizing the software-defined networking market
Lee Doyle

Analyst Lee Doyle looks at the rapidly-evolving software-defined networking (SDN) landscape, as fresh batches of startups and established corporations alike enter this competitive arena. The outlook for the SDN enterprise market continues to expand, and recent acquisitions (such as VMWare’s recent $ 1.2 billion deal with Nicira), indicates major opportunities ahead. Doyle analyzes the current and near-term future prospects for SDN in the enterprise, focusing on the products (hardware, software and services) and use cases and applications that business customers will find most relevant.

Mobile: Proximity-based mobile social networking: outlook and analysis
Peter Crocker

Analyst Peter Crocker looks at the most recent iteration of social networking, defining proximity-based social networking applications as services that connect users based on their physical proximity to each other, as well as facilitating connections between people in a certain time and place. Led by apps such as Highlight and Grindr, mobile application vendors have quickly and deeply latched onto this market segment, and Crocker predicts that the market will grow to $ 1.9 billion by 2016. In this report, Crocker analyzes the types of social networking mechanics presently in use and the existing technology and market structure, before providing his forecasts for the next four years.

Social: Orchestra’s Mailbox makes email triage effortless
Stowe Boyd

In his latest blog post for Pro, Analyst Stowe Boyd provides his initial analysis of Orchestra’s Mailbox app, which launched last week with much fanfare and a very long waiting list. While acknowledging the app’s limitations (it’s currently only available for iOS, and only connects to Gmail), Boyd provides a personal walk-through of his experiences using Mailbox for his own email triage, and how the app stacks up to other task management solutions, such as Asana and Remember the Milk.