5G will be a game changer – with 12 cities in queue for 2019. 5G takes us from 50 megabytes per second to 10 gigs per second! We will finally see latency issues drop and will have the ability to receive and download ultra-rich content anywhere, across any device, with immediate access to content and commerce capabilities. At CES this year, we saw the importance of connecting and merging digital experiences in our daily lives and the systems we use to get things accomplished from 6 a.m. to when we sleep at night (and even while we sleep, with some of the sleep tech). Here are three areas where 5G will surely make an impact as it rolls out.

VR/AR/Mixed Reality

One of the areas 5G will surely impact is VR/AR and Mixed Reality. We will finally be able to get immediate, customizable access to information that we can act upon with the touch of a button, or even our voice. It can be accessed anywhere and on any device. Take this view as an example – it looks like a pipe dream, but in reality, it can already happen. Many companies are opening up their technology and connecting it with existing providers in anticipation of 5G’s capabilities.

Some companies worth noting:
• Google Lens and ARCore (Open API) enable companies to overlay AR information onto the real world, and VR elements as well
• Companies are now opening their technology to create AR/VR experiences connected to Alexa, Yelp, etc. (Vuzix)
• Beneficial Vision allows you to program content into contact lenses and works seamlessly with Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android devices. There is no extra software for users to download or license.
• AR content is being brought to market easily through companies like Visor X – you can put your smartphone into a headset and AR content appears

Smart Cities

$34B will be spent on smart cities by 2020, with marketing and advertising paying for most of the infrastructure and technology. Our in-home and in-office activities will be easily ported to the outside world, where a high amount of our time is spent eating, walking around and shopping. Everything will be faster and more connected. Smart cities will gather data, so privacy in public spaces will be an issue that will need to be addressed, and the bar here needs to be even higher than on the web. Some interesting ideas overheard:
• We will connect in-home advertising consumption to smart out-of-home ads (Intersection, an Alphabet company)
• The future will have no devices, just connect all your information in the cloud through one ID. There will be screens everywhere for you to consume your content (Samsung, CES 2019)

Autonomous Vehicles

Autonomous vehicles will change work and entertainment behaviors, with shared vehicles first and eventually cars without steering wheels. For marketers, these vehicles are imagined with gorgeous screens and interactive tech, creating numerous new advertising and brand application possibilities. Bosch made a splash at CES with their driverless shuttle: the infotainment screens can be used individually or shared by two or more riders if they want to enjoy the same content. For example, one passenger can look at the trip’s progress, two can stream a movie from a smartphone via the onboard Wi-Fi connection, and the fourth can fold the screen out of the way to read a book. The infotainment system also provides information (including the weather and restaurant recommendations) about the destination, a feature that looks ahead to when driverless shuttles embark on longer trips, not just on short hops across a city. They’ve even partnered with Volvo to create the technology behind their infotainment system.

It’s exciting times we live in, and we’re very close to realizing a lot of the futuristic things that have wowed us from movies past. From both a consumer’s and a marketer’s perspective, there are a lot of cool things we can dream up, and we’ll finally have the speed, technology and availability to scale our wildest ideas.