Launched on Monday, the Mobile World Congress is an annual event where anyone who hates Apple reflects on their winnings and points out Apple’s lack of real progress. That’s almost everyone who is anyone except Apple itself, which is also happening.
Just like CES often, MWC tends to turn pretty hard towards the “I hate Apple, I would like to be Apple” set of competitors. This year is distinguished by the fact that the level of technological development is shown, with an emphasis on those tied to the deployment of 5G, which Apple will not initially be able to use.
I’ll give you a picture of what’s likely to appear in the show, and I’ll point out one big 5G problem that people mostly aren’t aware of yet (but AT&T and IBM are). That may, in fact, lead to the strongest argument for giving up the iPhone.
I would close the week with my product: nReal Light Mixed Reality Glasses - one of the headphones announced to be related to Qualcomm’s big augmented reality initiative at MWC.
The biggest 5G problem
The large introduction of technology is causing problems. With 5G, you have to exchange both cell tower technology and phones. You need to find compelling reasons to fund this change from both ends, and you need to understand network charging so you can avoid bottlenecks.
The process of upgrading cell towers has begun, and no operator understands that failing to move aggressively with 5G means losing customers. This is because 5G provides data rates in line with wired networks and is particularly efficient at the edge of the network, making a huge difference for people who use data there.
In addition, and much less discussed, there is a massive reduction in latency, enabling future initiatives such as Microsoft Virtual Desktop, and allowing users to run full-fledged Windows applications on their phones and connected tablets, regardless of operating system.
So it gives us towers and compelling reasons to upgrade people - but what about the information ecosystem? This problem arose at IBM Think earlier this month when AT&T and IBM pointed out that 5G’s data needs are forcing it to switch from centralized data centers to distributed data centers that are located close to users due to network congestion.
Low latency and high bandwidth at endpoints won’t do you any good if your networks have bottlenecks connected to massive centralized data centers built around the world.
For small states, this is probably not a huge problem, but for large countries like the United States and China, it means a huge change in network topology at the national level. This also means that if you’re already close to one of these existing megadata centers and early deployment of 5G, you’re likely to get the most initial benefit from 5G.
Qualcomm's transfer to AR / VR as a smartphone feature
On Monday, Qualcomm announced a major initiative to add headsets to smartphones and improvements to the standalone AR / VR product endeavor. Just as headphones are an important part of using smartphones for many, these originally wired glasses allow you to interact better with your phone, leaving both hands free and your eyes focused much more on where you’re going.
These headphones do a lot. They give you a better entertainment viewing experience when you have the time. They also improve navigation and voice-to-text instant messaging (you can see the text or instant message and reply to it orally).
When you use headphones with a camera, you can confuse reality with virtual ones (for example, see competitive online prices for products you look at while shopping or even looking at a computer screen. These headphones should better integrate cloud metadata into the real world around them. They could even let you know if you walk in a dangerous area, and guide you automatically out, even if it is too dark to see.
5G’s low latency, high bandwidth, makes it even easier to pull even rich data from the cloud. It is these headphones that are likely to drive the gradual use of high bandwidth. Given Qualcomm’s war with Apple, these headphones are unlikely to work with the iPhone.
5G update
At the Mobile World Congress, most of what you see will be tied to new devices and services related to 5G deployment and deployment. This is a growing problem for Apple, which is not expected to release new 5G phones until late 2020. The new 5G phones will obsolete virtually all existing iPhones, so why would anyone buy a new 4G LTE phone during the 5G ramp at the top?
Admittedly, we had an ATG 5G E effort, but a lot of people have had fun with it. Doesn’t trying to trick people into buying a 4G phone that’s mislabeled mean fraud?)
Perhaps with greater consequences, Apple’s war with Qualcomm will have a significant impact on its already declining sales, and Apple is not alone. I expect that any company that launches a high-end phone without 5G support will have moderate sales volumes at best because people who want to buy a high price point are likely to want to avoid looking stupid when their expensive new device expires prematurely.
It's not just phones. You’ll see service improvements from companies like Microsoft tied to Azure (announced on Sunday) that take advantage of this feature, unique unprecedented devices, and even new entertainment offerings. Look at gaming and commercial applications (such as telemedicine applications) that take advantage of this significantly improved performance and impressively low latency.
Foldable screens
You’ll see several foldable display devices at the Mobile World Congress, but this technology is still pretty raw, and I suspect it will cause real damage to iPhone sales directly. Still, it’s another technology coming on the market that Apple probably doesn’t have.
Ironically, since the operating system needs to be changed to use it, Apple is probably the company that could have made the best foldable monitors because it owns its operating system. So, this is a missed opportunity, but not a critical one, and it will probably take a year for the price of this technology to get below the nosebleed area anyway. I think this is one of those cases where it’s better to do it right than to go early, and the first product line doesn’t look “right” to me yet.
Wrapping
The Mobile World Congress has almost always been largely an anti-Apple event, but so far it has certainly not caused much harm to Apple. However, this time is different. Apple is not present for the 5G deployment that makes up the event, and is at war with Qualcomm, a leading U.S. provider of 5G technology.
In addition, Intel, a vendor of Apple technology, has had serious implementation problems (especially after allegedly stealing Qualcomm’s intellectual property rights. If true, this doesn’t end well for Apple or Intel).
Still, we’re likely to see a turnaround in centralized data center placement, a significant increase in augmented reality headsets for smartphones, some impressive new 5G smartphones, and some wild devices with foldable screens that are only state-of-the-art. forward us to buy. It should be an interesting week.
The problems with AR and VR are due to expensive equipment, lack of attractive content, uneven installation experiences, and far too much crap in the market. Among the products on display this week, along with Qualcomm’s announcement on Monday, are the nReal Light AR glasses.
These glasses, which opened at CES this year, feature a dedicated Qualcomm processor. At the $ 1,000 price point, they are not cheap dates, but offer adequate performance and a relatively attractive glassy shape. I expect the price of these to drop drastically if you connect them to a new smartphone that supports Qualcomm’s new augmented reality test.
The glasses work with HD resolution, which is less than I would like, but certainly sufficient for most AR-type tasks, such as watching videos and playing games. The viewport looks pretty good at 52 degrees, and it has two cameras so the device can see what you see and better integrate the virtual images it offers with the real objects you’re watching. (You can get an idea of what is possible with glass with this video).
These are the first high-quality augmented reality glasses that seem attractive enough for people to use, even when connected. Printing the way to carry your phone comfortably when it is connected to glasses is likely to be somewhat problematic.
Because nReal Light AR glasses are a big step into the future of augmented reality, they are my weekly product. (They are expected to hit the market in the third quarter of this year.)
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