Transcript 0:00 [on-hold music] We're experiencing it right now just in IoT right now. People are saying it's not delivering. 0:09 It's not that it's not delivering, it's how do you understand it to make it work for your company, and that's where we're at in 5G. We've hyped it up and people are like, "Well, is it ever gonna come?" 0:20 Well, it's here, and how do you deliver on it? [upbeat music] Welcome to The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation with your host, Peggy Smedley. 0:39 Hello, listeners, and welcome to today's edition of The Peggy Smedley Show. As always, I'm your host, Peggy Smedley. How many of you as my listeners went to CES this year? 0:50 I was there, and I had an opportunity to meet some of you in person, which is always fun. 0:56 You know, for segment one today of this show, I'm going to be continuing our coverage of CES, uh, with that forward-thinking focus that we're kind of, uh, taking, uh, throughout the whole month of January is what I like to say. 1:10 But I really wanna focus on a new study which was released during CES from GSMA Intelligence, and I'm actually going to pick apart this survey in two parts because there was a whole lot in it, and I really think GSMA does a great job. 1:26 So today I want you to focus in on this part, but then I want you to tune back next week for part two. But today I'm going to focus on 5G. 1:34 A lot of people had a lot of questions on 5G, and that's why I wanna talk about it. 1:39 But later on in the show I'm going to be welcoming back Olivier Bloch, principal program manager of Azure IoT Developer Ecosystem, and he's gonna be joining me later on in the show and we're gonna be talking ab- a lot about what's happening in the IoT space and how are customers embracing the IoT up to this point. 2:01 And I tell you, Olivier is a great guy and he's got a lot to talk about, so I'm looking forward for us to delve into a lot about the IoT. 2:08 But first, GSMA released its twenty twenty Vision of the Future for Devices report, and I got to see it under embargo and now I'm looking forward to kinda sharing with you my thoughts on it. 2:22 Because I always think everybody releases these reports, but I know a lot of you wanna know what I think, so I'm gonna kinda delve into it. 2:30 And the first piece of this report I want to kinda pick out and discuss is 5G, 'cause everybody's got an opinion on 5G, and so do I, so let's talk about it. 2:41 According to Allied Market Research, the global 5G technology market is expected to reach more than five point five billion this year, and then it's projected to reach nearly six hundred and sixty-eight billion by twenty twenty-six. 2:57 Now, 5G is expected to grow so rapidly because it offers key benefits like higher capacity, lower latency, and faster speeds. You've all heard it. 3:08 You know that I interview Mo Katibeh on the show, and everybody's got an opinion on it. And it's important to understand what 5G means. 3:18 So there, those three benefits alone are like a one-two punch of goodness for so many Internet of Things applications, and that's a fact. There's no question about it, and you need to understand why. 3:33 Edge computing is becoming a more attractive option, as is automation and just streaming data in general, and 5G can help enable all of this and more. 3:44 So GSMA Intelligence did some interesting digging around with, I guess you could say, consumers to take their temperature on 5G, and the results are worth discussing and, and I like to talk about that. 3:59 One of the most interesting questions GSMA asked in its latest survey regarding 5G in my opinion is regarding when consumers say they plan to upgrade to 5G. 4:11 The Chinese are way ahead of everyone else in terms of readiness for 5G adjec- adoption. A majority of Chinese respondents say they will upgrade, and forty pers- six percent say they will upgrade as soon as possible. 4:26 That's, that's their view. Okay. In the US by comparison, less than half said they plan to upgrade and just twenty-eight percent said they plan to upgrade as soon as possible. As soon as possible. 4:40 You know, I have a joke with one of my brothers. They say, "You know, soon. What does that mean, soon?" You know, soon means, or as soon as possible as 5G is available in their area. 4:50 So what we're mostly talking about when we discuss consumers and 5G is smartphones, but what is it about the Chinese and 5G? What do they see? 5:02 Well, GSMA's data suggests China has become the global epic center for f- smartphone manufacturing and consumption, and this has happened in a relatively short period of time. 5:17 I wonder, though, this is what I'm thinking, when 5G is going to get old for consumers who are sick of hearing about it and have yet to really experience it. Because that's what I think is really, really important. 5:32 So GSMI- GSMA kinda points out to saturate- saturation and innovation fatigue as to two market hurdles for smartphones the past couple of years. But perhaps what's most interesting is that many say the actual... 5:49 I think what... 5:50 You think about this, the arrival, you know, the coming of 5G will likely provide a boost, especially I think in places like China where so many people s- kinda say they wanna upgrade right away as soon as it's here. 6:06 But let's kinda shift gears, this is what I want you to think a little bit about, and talk more aboutWhat I just experienced, 5G at CES, because everybody wants to know and we've written about it and you can check it out on our website. 6:19 5G was front and center and that's not new at CES. But doesn't it seem like we've been talking about 5G at CES for a long time? I know I have. 6:30 I know that when I go there, there was a lot, you know, and it was interesting to me. Qualcomm was one company talking it up. And I want you to read this in my blog that I'm going to put out here shortly. 6:42 But Qualcomm focused on how 5G can enable things like AI, artificial intelligence, augmented reality and virtual reality and vehicle pretty much to everything, you know, V to X technologies. 6:57 But thanks to 5G, and this is what I like, Qualcomm is saying we're entering this invention age. And I think this is really cool because I really like their verbiage. And I'm going to tell you why. 7:09 Because I think they're right. Let's get past this idea of 5G per se and think about invention. 7:17 Whether you buy into the hype of 5G or not, you can't deny that 5G is going to open up so many doors for industrial automation, for remote healthcare and maybe autonomous vehicles. There's no question about it. 7:35 And here's the interesting thing. We'll see how it plays out. But I really do think that Qualcomm is right when they say that 5G is going to bring an age of invention. We've been saying you have to be an inventor. 7:52 You've got to think outside that box. So I really like their thoughts on this because I think it sets the stage for what the next generation and all of us can be thinking about. 8:04 With ultra high speeds and ultra low latency, the possibilities are going to be endless. And I guess I can't anticipate all the ways 5G will change our world. 8:19 But what I do think is it's truly exciting and I'm excited about it. And you should be excited whether we get past all the hype. And yet I also felt now let me give you the other side, the hype side. 8:33 I also felt an undercurrent of underwhelm about the continued talk about 5G without much delivering of this talk. I mean, let's be honest about it. And I'm going to be the first one. 8:46 And you've probably read a lot about people saying this. It's not like companies haven't tried to walk the walk. And it's certainly not like they're not making progress because I think they are. 8:57 It's just that we get into a hype cycle way too early. And it's not just 5G. It's a lot of technologies. And I've been around a really long time. I don't want to admit how long covering tech. 9:09 And this is amongst many technologies. We hype it up so much that consumers and businesses get oversaturated with it. And they're like, is it ever going to come? We're experiencing it right now just in IoT right now. 9:22 People are saying it's not delivering. It's not that it's not delivering. It's how do you understand it to make it work for your company? And that's where we're at in 5G. 9:32 We've hyped it up and people are like, well, is it ever going to come? Well, it's here. And how do you deliver on it? 9:37 So wireless service providers have been trying to convince people that they're delivering this era of 5G now ahead of their competitors. When in reality, everyone was kind of scrambling to get something started. 9:51 And that's the name of the game. It's the game that you want to be in. So I want to be clear and I really do believe the potential. Now it's time for the invention. And I can't wait to see what's next. 10:05 So feel free to disagree with me, listeners. You know, whether you agree or disagree, let's talk about it on social media because that's what I like. So here's my opinion on this. 10:14 In 2020, 5G was still a big theme at CES. But among the people who were there, it seemed like we're starting to wear out its welcome just a little bit. I think people are just kind of worn out. 10:27 And I think the reports that we're seeing are kind of saying that. But that doesn't mean that anyone who understands the technology isn't really excited about the possibilities, especially in IoT and the enterprise. 10:39 I know I am. But here's my tip for today. If you are a business that's waiting for 5G with bated breath, you can't expect 2020 to be – you can expect, I should say, 2020 to be a big year in terms of progress. 10:54 But try to keep focused on the long run. 2020 may not be the year that all 5G promises to come true, all of its promises, because there's a lot still to happen. 11:05 But in the next five years, we're going to start to see what 5G has in store for IoT and beyond and all these amazing technologies. But you've got to plan. You've got to have a strategy. 11:16 But now is the time to get those strategies moving forward. Buckle up, folks. I'm telling you, it's going to be a very exciting time and you need to be ready for it. 11:26 And that's why I'm truly excited to have Olivier Bloch, who's here from Microsoft, to tell us what's ahead for us with IoT. Because you know what? It's still a bumpy road. But you've got to be prepared. 11:39 Because you know what? There are failures and there are successes. But you've got to know what you're doing. All right. I'm out of time for this segment. But what I want you to do is tweet at me at ConnectedWMag. 11:48 Check out our website at connectedworld.com. We've got a lot of things up there. And I want you to tell us what you think. All right. That's all the time we have for this segment. But stick around. 11:57 We've got more to come right here on the Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation. And remember, with great technology comes great responsibility. Go get that cup of coffee. 12:07 We'll be right back after this commercial break.
