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Ericsson | A practitioners’ guide to accelerate 5G for business in 2020
Chapter 1: Shrink the business world
5G builds on the first 4 mobile generations to accelerate the business world Cellular networks have a long history of transforming the world of business. Today, understanding how 5G will change the way companies operate is crucial – as its impact will be much greater than that of previous generations. By understanding how the first four mobile network generations shaped the world, you can be better prepared for the fifth.
The first generation: 1G
Sales professionals were among the first people to embrace mobile phones, which at the time were 30 to 40lb devices that were permanently installed in cars. These first mobile phones quickly began to transform the business world. Firstly, traveling sales professionals could call in orders immediately as they left customers. Thanks to 1G, they no longer needed to wait to call in orders from the hotel the next morning. Secondly, sales professionals were able to have more flexibility throughout the week. They could call and inform customers about delays, and customers could contact them more frequently. Both phones (USD 3,000) and calls (USD 3 per minute) were expensive, but the positive value they added still exceeded these costs. Characteristic for this mobile era were briefcase-sized phones, and brief conversations that were limited to a few people for professional purposes. People were also often only able to use these phones for domestic calls.
The second generation: 2G
The demand for mobile services grew in the lead up to the roll out of 2G – both from professionals that wanted a mobile phone for flexibility and status purposes, and from consumers that were inspired by them. The real game changers were phones that could fit in your pocket and the introduction of TXT/SMS and email capabilities.
With the broader adoption of mobile phones, the business world continued to shrink as it became even quicker to get answers to questions. Suddenly, you could be sat in a customer meeting and send your colleague a text asking an urgent question. Everyone in your company soon had a mobile phone, and customers’ began to expect immediate responses to queries. Second-generation mobile phones had both voice and message capabilities, and at the back end of the 2G era we began to see email-centric devices – a new status symbol in the corporate world. When I think back to this era, I remember pocket-phones filling the whole inner pocket of your suit jacket. The battery life was short, with a few hours in standby mode. Messages were limited by 20-character windows, and were typed on a 12-character keyboard. Blackberries became a staple food for businesses.
The third generation: 3G
The third generation came with the promise of mobile access to the internet and video telephony. But for businesses and professionals, their world began to shrink further. This time – the boundaries between people’s work and their personal lives began to blur globally. The first global phone saw daylight and eliminated the need for globetrotters to carry multiple phones across different continents. Secondly, we began to connect our laptops to mobile networks. We started to do work on our laptops away from the office, and people began to work in homes and places of leisure.
