After spending the weekend at the AT&T SHAPE 2019 event at Warner Brothers studio in Hollywood, I am both excited and full of anticipation with how AT&T is growing and changing and how 5G wireless will play such an incredible and important role in the future for every one of us.
Not only was the show sold-out, but based on what I saw and experienced, the AT&T acquisition of Time Warner – renamed WarnerMedia – and DirecTV from a few years ago, puts them in a new and exciting position for growth and transformation going forward, for them, investors and users.
We’ve all gone from 2G to 3G to 4G, but this leap to 5G is different. It is bigger and more important than ever before. While the smartphone and wireless speeds were simply incredible at the show, all this amazing new technology is still in the very early stages. The changes we will all see in coming years will blow our minds.
AT&T SHAPE 2019 shows what tomorrow will look like
The next few years will be simply incredible. I experienced immersive gaming, autonomous vehicles, mind blowing games, incredible new entertainment formats and so much more.
One event virtually put us on the space station. There was an astronaut floating in front of us giving a presentation. As we looked up and down and right and left, we could believe we were up there with him. It was incredible.
The suspension of reality is key to any good story whether that be a movie or in a book. With this new technology powered by 5G, the suspension of reality will play a role in other parts of our lives as well, from entertainment to communications and more.
In fact, I could see how 5G is going to transform industry after industry. And we haven’t even scratched the surface yet. It will bring so many industries into the future and excite both users and investors.
This creates enormous new opportunities for all of us whether we be executives, workers, investors, users and so on. Tomorrow will look very different.
There were so many companies at AT&T SHAPE including IBM Watson, Magic Leap, AWS, Amdocs, Ericsson, Google Lens, Intel, NetGear, Nokia, Nvidia, Samsung and so many others.
AT&T SHAPE immerses you into tomorrow
This was an event that not only talked about tomorrow, it let attendees immerse themselves into tomorrow. It was a stunning event that left everyone hungry for what is coming.
5G wireless and telecom are the basic building blocks that all these new technologies will ride on. There was an exhibit which shows the importance of both 5G speeds and the low latency it brings to the table.
In today’s 4G world, speeds are fast, but the latency is too high. Example, that means it takes too long to make calculated adjustments and that can cause accidents in self-driving vehicles causing accidents.
Fast speeds and low latency of 5G will transform industry after industry
5G with its incredibly low latency will allow instantaneous corrections to keep autonomous driving safely on the road. Combine the 5G wireless networks with the advanced technology and self-driving will be safer every time we are on the road.
As part of a smaller group of analysts I think we were all blown away by what we saw and experienced. Tomorrow will be so exciting. There were also so many others from the media to entertainment executives, actors and more.
The exciting part of this peek into tomorrow is we are still at the very early stages. Think of where we are today in the world of 5G like when the first Apple iPhone or Google Android hit the marketplace just over a decade ago.
It was new and there really were only a few hundred apps at that time. Then the app market exploded with growth and the features increased as well as speeds. Today, the iPhone and Android are light years ahead of where they were when they first started. And they will continue to advance in coming years as well.
Can’t wait to see AT&T SHAPE 2020
Today, smartphones can do everything. That’s what we can expect with 5G coming in the next few years. The technology I saw at AT&T SHAPE this weekend was incredibly sexy and everyone wants in.
However, this is still just the first generation of technology that will continue to evolve and grow in coming years. What we see today is the promise of incredible changes that will transform the way we do everything over the next few years.
I simply can’t wait for all this new technology to be available all over the country in the next few years. And as exciting as AT&T SHAPE 2019 was, I can’t wait to see AT&T SHAPE 2020. It’s great to be a wireless analyst given this glimpse into tomorrow. This is a fun journey we are all on and it’s just the beginning. Buckle your seat belts. The fun is just getting started.
