This bears repeating. $306 split adjusted all time high and 5G will be a huge mobile disruptor.
split adjusted the all time high was $306 in Feb 2010. After reading the following, I'm getting pretty excited.
Get ready – 5G will create waves of innovation that disrupt every industry
Tom Goodwin
The launch of ultrafast mobile broadband discussed at Mobile World Congress will require a shift in how businesses think
5G will supercharge virtual and artificial reality. Photograph: Albert Gea/Reuters
Friday 26 February 2016 06.51 EST Last modified on Friday 26 February 2016 06.53 EST
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Its easy to focus on technology and not the behaviours it makes possible and the expectations it changes. The internet seemed decent in the early dial-up age. We didn’t pine for images to load instantly. Buffering videos was the price you paid for accessing anything from anywhere. We didn’t know any better. Broadband changed that. The web became rich, fast, visual and, above all else, we didn’t go online, we were online.
3G meant we could access everything, anywhere. We could send videos and images, the entire world of selfies, life broadcasting, microblogging, all made possible from rapid, constant data transfer. It is hard to see how, in 2005, we went to sleep without knowing what someone we didn’t really like across the world was having for lunch. It was this environment of data transfer that made possible the existence of businesses such as Uber, WhatsApp, Instagram and Seamless.
4G changed the atomic unit of the web from images to videos. It made possible Snapchat stories and the 8bn video views on Facebook per day. It led to gifs and cinemagraphs becoming instant and fun, like beaming away your privacy on Periscope. We see 360 videos, basic virtual reality (VR) via Google cardboards, we’re seeing the inroads to content that feels real.
4G killed patience. Dating became the act of a nonchalant swipe with Tinder, buying clothes followed suit, booking a hotel became drawing a H on Hotel Tonight, accessing your bank account a press of your thumb, getting food via Maple takes three seconds. 4G has given us seamless, immediate, frictionless transactions. Interfaces and interactions that feel personal and rich.
Mobile strategy makes no sense
‘We need to work around the impatient and spoiled,’ writes Tom Goodwin. Photograph: RayArt Graphics/Alamy
It is common today to talk about the need for a mobile strategy, but I think this makes no sense. We need a strategy for the behaviours, expectations and opportunities of a smartphone-based world. We need to work around the impatient and spoiled, empowered and connected and to do so knowing anything and everything is possible.
But get ready for the next communications revolution. The launch of ultrafast 5G mobile broadband – set for 2020 – will unleash speeds that scientists expect to be dozens or even hundreds of times faster than 4G. A lesson from history is that the arrival of 5G will create waves of innovation that disrupt every industry.
Media and advertising need to adapt to the new processes, thinking and behaviour that this revolution will engender. 5G will supercharge virtual and artificial reality, making them more realistic than ever. Social media will be experienced in real-time as if our friends were actually in the room with us. Every known form of marketing – from sponsorship and pre-roll ads to event-based marketing – will be replicated in this virtual world. Yet for brands, the central mission will remain the same – to create meaningful connections with consumers.
A shift in thinking
Wearable technology means screens are getting smaller. Photograph: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images
So how do you stay meaningful while everything around you is changing? That will require a shift in thinking. We have to reboot our understanding of how media relates to people’s lives. We are surrounded by an array of screens and outlets that can become platforms for creating meaning. From the connected car to the smart mirror, and from wearables to ambient guides providing voices in our ears. With 5G this list will lengthen to include holograms and virtual worlds.
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We need to consider how we harness the amazing opportunities created by the plethora of new channels that are coming our way. Until now, we have defined media channels around a particular device – radio, TV, mobile. But this starts to make less sense in a world where everything is digitally-connected and where everything is stored in the cloud.
Media has gone from the cinema screen, to the TV, to mobile. The screens are getting nearer to our eyes and becoming more personal, interactive and connected. The technology of the 5G world will bring brands even closer to us. They will be incredibly transformative to our lives.
For each consumer, a brand carries a constellation of different meanings. Brands need to dig deep into the aspirations, attitudes and dreams of each group of consumers to identify the meanings that resonate with them most. The connections based on these insights drive greater involvement, trust and desire and help to cement the relationship between brand and consumer. This will become increasingly important for brands in the fragmented world of ultrafast broadband.
Adblocking
One of the key themes of Mobile World Congress is adblocking, with mobile operator Three’s announcement that it will enable adblocking across its UK and Italian networks. This is part of a wider battle in the media over who controls the right to own our attention – publisher or ISP, mobile operator or social media platform – or the users themselves? Brands, consumers and agencies need to ideate for this new environment and solve the challenge of how we use meaningful connections to create messages that consumers actively want to engage with.
In the run up to the 5G transformation, finding ways to connect with consumers through the devices and platforms they use – and in ways they respond to – will be the number one aim of brands, entrepreneurs and innovators. What 5G connectivity and the internet of things really do is create a platform for services, partnerships and businesses to be built on.
We will go from a world where mobile is everything to one where forging meaningful connections through a blizzard of innovation, creativity, and as-yet unimagined platforms and devices will be all that matters.
Tom Goodwin is the senior vice-president of strategy and innovation for Havas Media US
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