It never is hard to hear big numbers when economists study the economic impact of a technology, industry or innovation. So it is that analysts at IHS Markit have argued that 5G will be as impactful as were railroads, the automobile or the internet itself, generating up to $12 trillion of global economic activity in 2035.
Observers will argue about that, but some are likely to be reminded that futurists have been predicting pervasive computing for quite some time, and 5G might be part of a set of trends that do lead to highly-pervasive computing.
The issue is that such broad applications mean there will be lots of fragmentation (or lots of vertical market apps). That logically is going to mean serious attention is paid to horizontal approaches that supply platforms for vertical industry apps.
