The Mobile Industry: The Biggest Tech Trend Ever…

by Louis Basenese, Chief Investment Strategist, Wall Street Daily
Tuesday, July 5, 2011: Issue #1549

“The exploding use of mobile devices promises to be the fastest-growing – and possibly biggest technological trend ever.”

A bold statement, for sure – one that I made back in March. And I’m standing by it.

Now my job is to convince you of this, too. How?

Well, since I’m not really a fan of brainwashing, I’ll hit you with some compelling statistics to prove my point.

So let’s get to it…

Growth Now… and Growth “Forever”

Ever heard of a “forever growth trend?”

As the phrase suggests, they’re trends that promise to continue, no matter what happens in the world or economy. In my experience, investing in such trends ultimately proves profitable, and with concerns over the economic recovery resurfacing, now seems like a fitting time to act on this advice.

And I can’t think of a better example of a “forever growth trend” than the mobile industry.

10 Reasons Why The Mobile Industry is Set for a Hyper Growth Spurt

Here are 10 statistics that demonstrate precisely how this tech trend is set for enormous growth over the coming years. For example…

• Mobile Stat #1: A Market of Seven Billion People
  Over the next five years, mobile device subscriptions are expected to hit 7.1 billion, according to Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) – enough for every man, woman and child on Earth.

• Mobile Stat #2: Billions Bigger Than the PC Boom
  By 2020, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) predicts that the number of mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, car electronics, etc.) could easily top 10 billion units. By comparison, the personal computer boom of the 1990s only sold hundreds of millions of units.

• Mobile Stat #3: Data Overload
  Mobile data traffic nearly tripled in 2010. Yet, Cisco expects it to increase another 26-fold by 2015, equal to a compound annual growth rate of 92 percent.

• Mobile Stat #4: A Rare Trillion-Dollar Industry
  Total annual sales for all mobile-related devices and services are set to top $1 trillion. That’s an incredible milestone, since only three other industries in the history of the world have ever pulled off that feat. (In case you’re wondering, those other trillion-dollar industries are automobiles, food and defense.)

• Mobile Stat #5: The Need for Speed
  The average mobile network connection speed of 215 kilobytes per second in 2010 is expected to increase 10-fold to exceed 2.2 megabits per second in 2015. However, that’s not possible if companies don’t create new technologies to increase connection speeds. (Hint: investment opportunity.)

• Mobile Stat #6: The Death of the Desktop PC and Rise of the Mobile Device (Part 1)
  The number of people using their mobile devices as the only way to access the internet is expected to increase 56-fold from 14 million last year to 788 million by the end of 2015.

• Mobile Stat #7: The Death of the Desktop PC and Rise of the Mobile Device (Part 2)
  By the end of next year, Morgan Stanley predicts annual shipments of smartphones will exceed annual shipments of personal computers.

• Mobile Stat #8: Truly Indispensable
  A whopping 97 percent of Americans carry their phones at all times. Moreover, a recent Kelton Research survey reveals that 31 percent of people would rather give up sex for a year instead of their phones. Now that’s indispensable!

• Mobile Stat #9: Advertising Follows Eyeballs
  Advertising delivered directly to mobile devices is set to shoot from a nascent $400-million market to over $2.5 billion by the end of 2013. But the growth won’t stop there, as more and more of the $67 billion spent annually on global internet advertising is expected to migrate to mobile devices.

• Mobile Stat #10: Who Needs Electricity Anyway?
  Within a matter of years, over 40 countries will have more people with mobile network access than with access to electricity. That’s not a typo. People are going to be off the electricity grid, but on the internet. Lots of them, in fact. About 138 million by 2015, based on Cisco’s estimates.

Don’t Be Left Behind

In the end, I think Morgan Stanley’s Mary Meeker puts it best: “Mobile is ramping up faster than desktop internet did and will be bigger than most people think.”

In short, the mobile revolution promises to be the biggest technological trend of our lifetimes.

Bigger than the personal computer revolution of the 1990s. Bigger than the desktop internet revolution of the early 2000s. Even bigger than the invention of the automobile.

As such, I’m convinced that the profit opportunities are significant. And in a future column, I’ll share some of my favorite ways to play this mega trend. So stay tuned.

Good investing,

Louis Basenese

One Response to “The Mobile Industry: The Biggest Tech Trend Ever…”

1. R van der Horst Says:
   
   July 11th, 2011 at 6:43 am

   Dear Louis,

   I like your article very much and would like to add one issue: mobility and electricity. You touch upon this topic and allow me to direct your attention to a fascinating development: devices becoming stand alone due to a combination of more efficient use of energy and the use of ever improving solar panels.

   Here are a number of examples:

   - wireless keyboard from Logitech
   http://www.logitech.com/en-us/keyboards/keyboard/devices/k750-keyboard

   - solar laptop from Samsung
   http://inhabitat.com/samsungs-solar-powered-laptop-to-go-on-sale-in-us-in-july/

   - solar cooler
   http://www.solarcooltech.com/solar.html

   - solar lawn mower
   http://www.husqvarna.com/us/homeowner/products/robotic-mowers/automower-solar-hybrid/

   - solar e reader
   http://www.solarfeeds.com/ecofriend/15445-the-toshiba-biblio-leaf-solar-ereader

   In other words: if you are a manufacturer or seller of mobile products and you’re not into solar, which actually means true mobility, you will be out of business within 5 years.

   I advise various companies on this and very often remain stunned by the lack of knowledge on the benefits of solar power at board level: all they think of are large ugly panels that are too expensive. I can only reply by asking: ‘Where have you been the last 5 years?’.

   Watch out for the companies that embrace solar technology to provide truly mobile solutions: they have the knowledge and the management it takes to satisfy the needs of their customers.

   Kind regards,

   Remco van der Horst
   Greenproc bv
   The Netherlands

   Reply

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