Area of Concern

Future of Technology

To create this installment in AT&T’s Futurist Report series, “Blended Reality: The Future of Entertainment, 5G, and Mobile Edge Computing,” AT&T collaborated with Institute for the Future, who drew from their ongoing deep research in mobile computing, wireless networking, and the future of entertainment, along with adjacent and intersecting areas, from immersive media and the “internet of actions” to AI and autonomous vehicles. IFTF then conducted interviews with experts in academia and industry for their divergent viewpoints. Informed by that research, IFTF synthesized five big stories likely to play out over the next decade at the intersection of entertainment, 5G networks, and mobile edge computing. Each of these big stories is supported by six

“Signals" present-day examples that indicate directions of change. Think of a Signal as a signpost pointing toward the future.

As AT&T continues to demonstrate 5G’s promise at events like AT&T SHAPE, we’re starting to see that our 5G & edge computing dreams are inching that much closer to reality.

AT&T and IFTF hope that this Futurist Report provokes insight that drives strategic action in the present. After all, there are no facts about the future, only fictions. The rest is up to all of us.

Blended Reality: The Future of Entertainment, 5G, and Mobile Edge Computing

Reality is up for grabs. The Internet is no longer a place we go to through our smartphones, laptops, or other connected devices. The network is becoming an overlay on top of our physical world. Over the next decade, most everything around us will become connected and interconnected, intelligent and communicative. We will see and feel the world through new senses and interact with each differently than before. Things that were previously invisible will become visible, and we will experience the familiar in new ways. As the physical and virtual are woven together, the most immediate impacts will be felt in the realm of entertainment. Indeed, this coming age of blended reality will reshape the entertainment landscape forever.

Blended reality cover thumb

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