Skift Take
Consumer behavior will shift in drastic ways in coming years, powered by a new generation of devices with ridiculously fast data connections and the mainstreaming of gadgets that have been niche products until now.
In recent years, upstarts in the travel industry like Airbnb and Uber rode a wave in mobile technology to the forefront of consumer consciousness.
At CES 2018, the consumer electronics event in Las Vegas, technology experts on Monday detailed the ways in which these new advances will change how consumers research and buy products.
“We are progressively building towards the data era of consumer technology,” said Steve Koenig, senior director of research for the Consumer Technology Association. “5G, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and smart cities are all heralds of that coming data age. Increasingly every action, every decision, every choice, every interaction has more and more data behind it.”
Here’s a look at how four emerging consumer technologies will likely impact the travel industry over the next decade.
Fast 5G Mobile Bandwidth
By now, most people in the U.S., Europe, and Asia have a 4G LTE data connection on their mobile phone. This generation of mobile technology has helped power most of the success stories of the consumer-facing travel industry startup scene in recent years, but the next generation is on the way.
5G networks, which are so fast they can download an entire two-hour movie in about three seconds, will start to roll out this year
