Hope you had a great new year’s celebration with family and friends.
The ongoing pandemic continues to test the limits of our endurance and adaptability. The ferocity of the virus continues to shake the pillars of the global economy, social norms, alliances, and our understanding of cultural and professional expectations. While the world saw another year of tumult and devastation, like in the crises of the past, we have seen significant leaps of change and acceleration.
As many readers know, we do our annual survey (now in its 16th year) to engage our knowledgeable community on trends and events to keep us informed. The composite view gives a glimpse into the future scenarios. Executives, developers, and insiders from leading mobile companies and startups from across the value chain and from around the globe participated to educate us on what to expect of 2023. The survey draws upon the unique collective wisdom of the folks who are making it happen. Thanks for being part of our annual ritual.
On the tech front, we saw significant acceleration in a number of domains, something we have talked about in our research as well as at our summits.
As we have mentioned before, we have entered the Connected Intelligence Era and the mobile industry is growing beyond its traditional borders to transform every vertical industry and by extension – the global GDP. Proof is in the numbers.
2022 was the year when 5G picked up significant pace. More than a billion 5G devices in the market. Growing at 3x the rate of LTE, US, China, and Korea continue to set the pace of global rollouts. The opportunities at the intersection of Connected Intelligence, Vertical Industries, and emerging technologies like 5G, AI, and Robotics are likely to unleash a decade long innovation cycle. However, there are dark clouds on the horizon – global economy downturns, trade wars, and regional conflicts can adversely impact the trajectory. There are a number of unanswered questions about the multi-dimensional tech industry. We will perhaps start to understand the complexity and the potential in 2023.
The biggest stories of 2022 were the Economy, Inflation, and Recession fears, Supply Chain Disruptions, 5G launches, US-China tech tussles, and Crypto. New growth areas that were previously on the fringes were brought to the forefront out of necessity like Telemedicine, Video conferencing, online commerce, etc.
For 2023, it seems like the 5G launches will continue to be the story along with US-China tech wars, regulatory push to reign in the big-tech players, and cybersecurity skirmishes. Covid will continue to define what we can or can’t do even though its intensity might wane. For the first time, Qualcomm emerged as the most important player ahead of the usual suspects. We are settling on our perceptions of which trends are here to stay and which ones are showing signs of reversal. Microsoft is slated for the biggest acquisition for the year. Amazon remains the company the regulators are most likely going to breakup. US and China continue to dominate the 5G Race discussions. The probability of splinternet is going to go up in the coming year.
The 2023 survey delved deeper this year to understand the progression of 5G and automation.
As we go into 2023, there are new questions to ponder over – Is Metaverse just a fancy rebranding of VR? Are “metaverse ready networks” ready? What are the limits of decentralized networks? Will 5G provide ROI for the operators? Will regulatory frameworks get a reboot? Will Web3 take hold? As you know, we have been exploring all these concepts under the umbrella of “Connected Intelligence” which IMHO provides a broader framework than Metaverse or Web3 that are limiting in their applicability. Regardless of which moniker sticks, 2023 is going to be another pivotal year for our industry.
Mobile Company of the Year: T-Mobile was voted as the company of the year for its stupendous success and competitive position in the industry. Startups, Qualcomm, Apple, and Jio rounded out the top 5. Apple is expected to have the honors for 2023.
Mobile Person of the Year: Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile US became the fourth CEO to return as the mobile person of the year. He led T-Mobile to become the most valuable service provider in the world and has positioned the company for a strong 2023. Tim Cook, CEO, Apple and Elon Musk, CEO, Tesla/Twitter/Starlink were close 2nd and 3rd respectively. Satya Nadella (Microsoft) and Shou Zi Chew (TikTok) rounded out the top 5. For the year 2023, Tim Cook, Cristiano Amon, and Mukesh Ambani won the top honors.
We wish you the very best of health and success in 2023.
Kind regards,
Chetan
The questions in the survey were:
- What were the biggest mobile stories in 2022?
- What will be the biggest mobile stories of 2023?
- Who are the top 4 important players in the mobile ecosystem?
- What will be the breakthrough categories in mobile in 2023?
- Which industries got shaped/disrupted the most due to Covid?
- Most successful company out of the pandemic that will shape the next 2-3 years?
- What trends are permanent or temporary?
- Which technology made the biggest leap during the pandemic?
- Biggest challenge for tech companies in 2023?
- Who will make the biggest mobile acquisition in 2023?
- Regulators are likely to pursue Breakup for which of these companies?
- Which category will generate the most mobile data revenue in 2023?
- The company bringing the most successful mobile gadget of the year – 2022 and 2023?
- Mobile company of the year – 2022 and 2023?
- What’s the most convincing use case for 5G?
- When will Metaverse vision become a reality?
- Who is doing the most interesting work in the 5G space?
- Which region will end up leading the world in 5G by 2025?
- What aspects of 5G are going to generate the most revenue?
- What 5G applications and services will get the most traction?
- Who will be the winners of the 5G technology transition?
- Automation and Digitization of industries will lead to?
- Which of the following are likely to happen in 2023?
- What category will be impacted the most by mobile in the next 5 years?
- Which segments are likely to get disintermediated the most by algorithms in the next 5 years?
- Who was and will be the mobile person of the year?
