Mobile Predictions 2019
January 04, 2019
Dear friends,
A very happy, healthy, and prosperous 2019 to you and your family. Hope you had a good holiday and are ready to take on the new year with vigor and purpose. My thanks to all who participated in our 12th annual Mobile Predictions Survey. It is a unique polling of the insiders to get a glimpse into what the ecosystem is thinking about the future.
As I have mentioned before, we are entering the Connected Intelligence Era and the mobile industry is growing beyond its traditional borders to transform every vertical industry and by extension – the global GDP. Proof is in the numbers. By 2020. 44 Zettabytes of digital information will be created. Over 420 Exabytes of mobile data traffic (which btw will grow 15x+ in the next 5 years). More than 26 billion connected devices. At least 120 companies generating a billion or more from 4th wave. At least 8 companies generating a billion or more from IoT.
It is the year that 5G will officially move from hype to deployment cycle. 2018 was a great year for the industry and while the opportunities at the intersection Connected Intelligence, Vertical Industries, and emerging technologies like 5G, AI, and Robotics are likely to unleash a decade long innovation cycle, there are dark clouds on the horizon – trade wards, slowing economies, regional conflicts can adversely impact the trajectory. There are a number of unanswered questions about the multi-dimensional tech industry. We will perhaps start to understand the complexity and the potential in 2019.
There were a number of big stories in 2018 – Early 5G tussles, privacy and data woes of the Internet players, Industry-defining M&As, security and data breaches, trillion dollar landmark, the rise of AI/ML as a dominant differentiator, trade wars, autonomous vehicles, the Amazon juggernaut, Microsoft’s resilience and resurgence, and much more. The fact that we are selling more non-phone devices than phone devices on cellular networks in the US should be a hint of things to come. Given the rise of AI in 2018, the role of data will continue to take centerstage in 2019 from all dimensions. The next five years are going to be full of action, surprises, and transformation. Stay with us and we will keep you posted.
We do our annual survey to engage our knowledgeable community on trends and events to keep us informed. The composite view gives a glimpse into the future scenarios. Executives, developers, and insiders from leading mobile companies and startups from across the value chain and from around the globe participated to educate us on what to expect of 2019. The survey draws upon the unique collective wisdom of the folks who are making it happen. Thanks for being part of our annual ritual.
The survey addressed several key questions in front of us in 2019 such as 5G’s pace and expectations, 5G leaders and business models, likely big stories of this year, impact of automation, new revenue sources, impact on industry verticals, and of course, the crowd favorite – Mobile person of the year. Check out the survey to see how your peers voted.
Welcome 2019!
Kind regards,
Research Team
Chetan Sharma Consulting