As the speed of connectivity has sped up, so too have new opportunities grown in so many walks of life. Now, as the world is bracing for the emergence of 5G, both in-home and Wi-Fi-level speeds will soon be coming to mobile. The opportunities for companies, educators and creatives will continue to grow exponentially.
Here are some of the areas where businesses, entrepreneurs and even hobbyists stand to benefit greatly from the lightning-fast speeds and efficiency that will begin to hit networks very soon.
In Business
Netflix knew at the outset that streaming video would eventually replace physical DVDs. But when the company launched, that simply was not possible at any sort of scale given the limitations in home internet speeds. But it began preparing for the future early and was poised to pounce as soon as technology caught up to the founders’ vision.
YouTube, Spotify, and others similarly have benefitted as wireless speeds have increased. Now that users know they can get streaming video to regularly load without buffering, billions of music videos are watched through popular YouTube channels like Vevo. Spotify’s premium service has similarly taken off since people were given the ability to run errands and stream any song they want without needing to download any digital media. New business models and mobile-native companies will continue to develop — all thanks to unprecedented speeds.
In Gaming
Cutting-edge processors from companies like Qualcomm are making gaming one area where both companies and users stand to benefit tremendously from 5G wireless technology. With never-before-seen connection and processing speeds in the mobile world, designers can start making more ambitious games that are much more platform neutral; which will allow gamers to play anytime, anywhere. Enhanced mobile broadband will also make for a more immersive gaming experience. The gaming space has been exploding in interest for years now and only stands to be taken up another notch with the arrival of 5G.
In Education
While profit motivations mean business applications will likely lead the wave, the educational world can benefit greatly from faster mobile speeds. Computers have added so much to how children learn and having the ability to have every kid in a classroom reliably streaming the same materials on a networked tablet will expand the toolbox for teachers. This could also be a boon to online learning companies, like EdX. If video coursework or large group video conference calls are accessible from a bus or park bench, more and more people will be able to fit lifelong learning and the pursuit of advanced degrees into their busy schedule.
In Creative Fields
Creative fields such as fashion design, photography and digital art stand to benefit greatly as well. Various design programs are available for use but untethering them will allow more people to use them in more situations. With cloud-enabled options making it more practical to store and instantly access large files, more people will use, for example, Adobe Lightroom, a powerful photo editor that handles RAW files that can be 20 gigabytes or larger. Currently, handling such large images on mobile is unreliable, but 5G technology will make editing on the cloud platform just as easy as doing it on the computer in your studio.
Powering the Future
The arrival of 5G wireless technology is great news for everyone. People from all walks of life will be inspired to take advantage of tech products in their own way to become more efficient, more creative and more successful.
From the corporate world and gaming space to the educational and creative worlds, 5G really will transform how we’ll all interact with technology. While digital and mobile have already changed the game in so many ways, chances are that we ain’t seen nothing yet.
