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Many of you know I am a car guy. Anything with wheels and a gas (petrol) engine is good by me, the bigger engine the better. So let’s look at how the auto industry deals with new technology – let’s use four-wheel drive as an example. 4wd has been around since the dawn of the auto industry but today’s systems are far more sophisticated and capable than systems even 20 years ago. Just as today’s Release 15 networks are far more advanced than the original cellular analog networks.
But car manufacturers brand the technology, instead of using the technology as a brand. Many cars have 4wd but each manufacturer has its own brand for 4wd to differentiate itself. Consider the various names for 4wd:
- Mercedes-Benz: 4matic
- BMW: xdrive
- Acura: SH-AWD for super-handling all wheel drive
- Subaru: Symmetrical All Wheel Drive
- Audi: quattro
- VW: 4motion
The list goes on. The point here is that these are all sophisticated systems that provide drive to all four wheels. If the car industry worked the same as the wireless industry, all car manufacturers would use 2G 4wd, 3G 4wd, 4G 4wd, 4G+ 4wd, 5G 4wd, real 5G 4wd…..you get the idea. Confusing.
Now let’s look at Jeep, a company that is synonymous with off-road, go-anywhere, outdoors, etc. When you think Jeep, you think of a Wrangler climbing up a mountain.
Here are the names Jeep has for its various 4wd systems:
- Quadra-Drive
- Quadra-Trac
- Active Drive 4×4 System
- Active Drive Low 4×4 System
- Active Drive Lock 4×4 System
- Command-Trac
- Rock-Trac
These are all variations of the same basic system with different technical capabilities (and prices); some apply to lower priced models, some to the upper end.
Again, Jeep has branded the technology and not used the technology as a brand. And it works as an image. What do you think Rock-Trac is designed to do? Yep, climb over rocks. And Active Drive gives you ‘4×4 capability when needed without sacrificing efficiency’ (straight from the Jeep website, where I got all of these names).
So now let’s look at 4G and 5G. 4G gives us lots of data speed and coverage, with Release 14 specs better than Release 10. And 5G Release 15 will give us more speed, with lower latency coming in Release 16. So how about naming according to average throughput:
- 4G Release 11 would be 10 for 10Mbps, Release 14 would be 40, etc.
- 5G would then be 100, 300 or 600 depending on the deployment.
- “What do you use?” “Oh, I am on Carrier X 100. You?” “I just moved up to Carrier X 300. It is great.”
- Or do what Jeep does and go for the application branding. 4G would be ‘Connectivity’, 4G Release 15 could be ‘Video Streaming’, 5G Release 15 could be ‘Home Connection’ and ‘More Mobile Connectivity’, and 5G Release 16 could be ‘Interactive’, ‘Interactive Gaming’, ‘Industrial’, etc. These different brands would all use the same network but obviously be targeted at different users.
- “What do you use?” “Oh, I am on Carrier X Connectivity. You?” “I just moved up to Carrier X Interactive Gaming and love the fact I can use AR/VR gaming anywhere.” “Yeah, not sure I want to do that. Video Streaming would be good for me though.”
So enough with the Gs. Stop using the technology as the brand and start branding the technology. Get creative and get brave.
By Iain Gillott, President, iGR (iGillottResearch, Inc.)
March 1, 2019
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