Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Mobile Internet, the Morgan Stanley Version

Mary Meeker & Co at Morgan Stanley are back at it again....Trying to replicate what they achieved nearly 14 years ago with The Internet Report, the analysts at Morgan Stanley are back at doing what they do best. Sticking their neck out and trying to identify trends that could mark the advent of the next big business in the tech industry. And what better time could they pick than end-2009, when the tech community is drinking Apple's Kool-aid like there's no tomorrow, when Google has apparently decided to go high-street retail with their self-branded phone, when a mobile social network raises more money in under 12 weeks of existence than what a 90 year-old magazine is sold for! Indeed, just when the contours of a bubble around mobile are beginning to emerge, such reports sure will help increase awareness of a space that continues to show strong growth. Neverthless, signs of a bubble not withstanding, the mobile Internet sure is likely to spawn a whole parallel industry to the PC based Internet. As networks grow in capacity, and devices grow in capabilities, and developers in creativity, we are likely to find that the mobile Internet is probably making to make a significantly more impact on our day-to-day lives than the PC based Internet, and in the process, also create new leaders and winners. The mobile Internet sure is big, but will it also necessarily go thro' a bubble before settling down?

The report is definitely worth a good read. You can find the executive summary embedded below and the two reports after the break. Be advised though, they are bulky.