5G, Gee Whiz, Marketing Is Easier Than Making Technology Work
October 25, 2021
One of the interesting characteristics of life in the US in 2021 is that marketing is easier than other types of work. Furthermore, once the marketing copy is written and pushed into the channel, it’s time to take a break. Writing about bits and bytes is much easier than making those restless zeros and ones do what the copywriter said would happen. A good example of this “let’s have lunch” statement tossed out on a Manhattan sidewalk to a person whom one never wants to see again appears in “Fake It Until You Make It: 5G Marketing Outpaces Service Reality.”
The real and trusty news report asserts:
An analysis done by OpenSignal released on Thursday found that their testers connected with T-Mobile 5G just 34.7% of the time, AT&T 16.4% of the time and Verizon just 9.7%. And that’s generally not for the fastest 5G many expect.
And the marketing?
The numbers are in stark contrast to what the carriers promise about 5G in their advertisements, showing how much they are banking on 5G as a selling point in the hotly-contested market for cellular service.
This “fake it until you make it” method has been slapped on Banjo (now SafeX.ai), Theranos, and Uber, among others. The idea is that fast talking, jargon, and lots of high school confidence works.
Is this an American characteristic? Nah, the real and trusty journalist notes:
Internationally, the story is similar. South Korea tops the list of best 5G availability at 28.1% of the time, with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Hong Kong all above 25%, according to an OpenSignal report from early September.
It’s the Silicon Valley way. It works really well sometimes.
Stephen E Arnold, October 25, 2021
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