This article was published on April 13, 2010

Forget Desktop, It’s All About The Mobile! – Future Internet Predictions from Morgan Stanley


Forget Desktop, It’s All About The Mobile! – Future Internet Predictions from Morgan Stanley

Forget the desktop, the future is mobile all the way. The latest research and predictions from Morgan Stanley point to a future almost entirely focused on mobile. As a financial house, these predictions are looking at where the revenue is going to come from.

With Japan showing us the way, Morgan Stanley expect all elements of mobile to be big in the coming five years. Not just the phones themselves but the apps, the data usage and new business models evolving from the shifting technology.

Did you know that in 2008, the global revenue from mobile internet matched what Japan achieved in 2000? If Skype were a telecoms company, they would be the biggest in the world? These facts help shape the predictions of mobile being the platform and channel as we move forward.

The predictions have been presented on Slideshare, covering over eighty slides. There is so much data in there we couldn’t possibly cover it all, so let me highlight a few key facts and let you enjoy the presentation after the jump.

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I have added the slide numbers for each point so you can check them easily.

  • Mobile Internet Consumption growing at a faster pace than desktop internet consumption. (7)
  • Mobile Internet use to surpass desktop Internet use by 2014. (8)
  • Social Networking usage and users passed email in 2009. (12)
  • Facebook takes largest share of social network gainers over the past 3 years. (31)
  • If Skype were a Telecoms carrier, they would be the largest carrier in the world. (38)
  • Apple iPhone, the fastest technological growth ramp in history. (41)
  • iPhone & Android gaining US market share to the detriment of Blackberry and Palm. (44)
  • Japan Social Networking trends highlight importance of mobile devices. (50)
  • Data is increasingly the largest chunk of mobile network traffic, not voice. (64)
  • Estimated $46 in advertising revenue per connected person. Only $9 back in 1995. (69)
  • Users happier to pay for content on the mobile than on the desktop. (75)
  • In 2008, Internet revenue in the rest of the world equalled that of Japan in 2000. (77)

Not surprisingly mobile is going to be huge! Bigger than desktop browsing in less than five years. What do you think about these predictions? Should we pack away our desktops now?

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