Mobile Phone Technology

Why was 3G not good enough? What applications are driving the demand for 4G technology? Without these demands, there would be no investment from mobile network operators. Gartner identified five application areas that require 4G networks to function and, in doing so, transform modern society.

1. Video / TV: The long-held dream of watching live TV on a mobile phone is finally becoming a reality. This, in addition to non-live TV and video services, would be available via the 4G mobile network. The demand is for standard-definition TV or video to be available on a mobile device connected to a mobile network.
2. Office Anywhere: For small organisations, providing fixed office space and facilities can be costly. Indeed, much of the office space in larger firms is not occupied from 9 to 5 Monday to Friday. Added to this is the need for mobile working — working away from the office. This creates a demand for mobile office applications. Mobile networks must be able to support online disk storage such as OneDrive and Google Drive. Additionally, the 4G mobile network must support online office software such as Google Docs.
   Please note that this was written prior to the onset of the pandemic. The original Gartner demand related to working at various locations. Mobile networks made it possible for many businesses to continue operating during the pandemic by enabling their employees to work from home.
3. Music in the cloud: There has been a revolution in music, moving away from physical items such as CDs or vinyl towards streaming. The 4G mobile network supports the streaming of music from organisations such as Spotify and Apple Music.
4. IoT: The growth and rollout of the IoT requires 4G networks to support uploading and downloading data. 4G will provide suitable coverage everywhere. Many of these IoT networks will also have a mobile app. Health or fitness apps require the ability to view data locally and upload it to a server. This can only be provided by a good 4G mobile network.
5. Social Multimedia: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media platforms accompany us wherever we go. Many users want to be able to upload videos and images at any time and from anywhere. The 4G network needs to be able to support this demand.

Note that this Gartner article was written prior to the implementation of 4G in 2010. In 2025, these demands on 4G mobile phone technology seem obvious – it looks like Gartner got this right!

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