Friday, October 23, 2009

Internet Trends and the Economy

Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker gave a fascinating and in-depth presentation of internet trends and the economy at the Web 2.0 Summit. It is a rapid fire overview that of course only touches on some very deep topics.

Mobile is a huge trend this year (see slide 29 below) beginning with the statement, "Mobile Internet is and will be bigger than most think." I also expect it to continue to grow in the healthcare space. She also reiterated the point that "location changes everything" and gave glimpses into how location, and ultimately augmented reality, will change the way we interact. Meeker says, "Mobile devices will evolve as remote controls for ever expanding types of real-time cloud-based services, including emerging category of location-based services, creating opportunities and dislocations, empowering consumers in unprecedented and transformative ways."

She indicated that financial markets have rebounded, and that technology played a strong role. However, U.S. manufacturing capacity utilization is only 70%, well below the 81% average over the past forty years. Consumer credit card defaults are rising. New home sales, while off historic lows, remain weak. And unemployment is high and rising. The technology sector is leading the way out of the economic crisis. I believe we are on the edge of a new type of economy where global forces and web enabled technologies are going to radically change the way humans exchange goods.

It was interesting to note that Facebook was the largest share gainer of online usage over the past three years. Meanwhile, AT&T's mobile data traffic increased 50 times, or nearly 5,000 percent, in the past three years.

This is her presentation:




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