Although the introduction of 4G cellphones is a great leap for the people living in the world of smartphones, on the go corporate individuals still has not deciphered its significance to their side of the world.
The 4G technology puts two major issues into perspective, and whether they are good news or not, will greatly depend upon where you stand.
First, the 4G technology brings with it constant improvements in technology with every new generation (G) of the cellular phone technology. Every new generation puts something more to the table – each new generation adds something new to the previous generation and in the process making all phones in different generations incompatible with each other. For example, 2G phones allow digital transmission compared with 1G’s analog technology and the 3G technology allowed internet access and multi media. The 3G technology’s ability to use the internet and have multi media functions has been followed through over the part year by the latest 4G technology, providing great improvements as far data transmission speeds are concerned.
Most of the phones that we have today are still relatively slower compared to full blown computers. The main reason behind that difference in performance between a cellular phone and a computer is the trade-off that happens between battery life and speed – you would not want to charge your smart phone very often, say every two hours, right?
The second issue is based on economics. While big companies invest in new releases and developments in technology every couple of years, wholesales shifts in technology and major investments happen roughly once every 15 to 20 years. It took us about 20 years to move from mainframes to the first minicomputers, and then it took another 15 years for us to get to know and actually use a personal computer. Even in the software industry, which get upgraded more frequently that hardware, most companies are just now considering changing from Windows XP to Windows 7, skipping an entire generation that is supposed to exist between them.
These two issues used to live independently, but with the 4G technology now afloat, everything is about to change. More and more powerful devices are rolling out faster than the companies are able to handle. The ultimate threat that the 4G technology brings, is the speed comes with it. Cellular phones and other similar devices now move faster making them harder to isolate and detect before they can cause any problem. Corporate and consumer worlds will soon collide, and what happens after that is something that all of us should watch out for.
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