There is no clear killer app in sight for 5G mobile networks. But it might not matter, given the boosts in speed and network capacity that 5G is expected to deliver.
A killer app is an application or a service that revolutionizes an industry and drives the adoption of a new technology. Text messaging drove 2G, and the mobile internet was the force behind 3G, according to wireless industry trade association CTIA. Streaming video and the emergence of the mobile-app economy, in turn, helped push wide adoption of 4G.
For 5G, it is a different story. For mobile-network operators, the dramatic expansion of capacity 5G offers itself could generate a new spurt of growth, wireless industry executives, researchers and academics say. Fifth-generation wireless holds the promise of being as much as 100 times faster than 4G, able to connect 100 times more devices, and offering significantly faster response times between machines, according to the CTIA.
Upgrading networks to 5G also helps wireless operators address a capacity crunch on existing 4G systems, according to John Thode, clinical professor of innovation, leadership and engineering entrepreneurship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a former executive at Motorola and Dell Technologies Inc. Video alone sometimes takes up as much as half of some networks, says Mr. Thode.
“If I put 5G everywhere in the urban area that there’s 4G cells—without adding any extra real estate—I now can double, or triple or quadruple the amount of data that I can put down those pipes,” says Mr. Thode. “So do you actually need a killer app? No.”
