The next tech boom

OK folks - here it is, the official announcement -- GAME ON! I have been saying for awhile now that the tech industry is in expansion mode again and that 2010 is gooing to be an explosive growth year leading to another long expansion, one that will surpass even the great Internet boom of the late '90s / early 00s (read on for why). Today I have validation.

Perhaps you don't think this validation is legitimate - much to your own sorrow when you miss the boom (or are just late to the party). But I am talking about man on the street validation. Here in San Francisco today I overhead not once, not twice, but three times today different conversations in which people were talking about tech companies in growth mode.

The last of these three was when I was walking to the Montgomery BART (very close to our offices at 2nd and Mission) and overhead two real estate people in their nice real estate suits talking outside a building. The one said to the other "oh yes, I think they will take the space at that price -- I am seeing a lot of action right now from tech companies, they all seem to be growing."

For me this is validation of a trend I was already seeing shape up for 2010 -- the coming year of mobile. And yes, I do think that Mary Meeker called it right in her annual address to the faithful at the Web 2.0 Summit. "Mobile Internet Usage Is and Will Be Bigger than Most Think" which will lead to a dozen NEW companies of enormous size and value over the next decade...

But that isn't the only story. There will be a dozen tech IPOs in the first half of 2010, breathing life into the whole investment supply chain and creating a huge new cohort of want-to-be tech companies. Sure, some will be life sciences and some will be cleantech and energy innovation. But my money is on the mobile Internet.

Apple, Google, Nokia, Samsung, and (go down the list) not to mention Vodafone, AT&T, (another list), and all their suppliers have realized that there is an enormous new business that is being created -- a whole new range of consumer experiences that will be enabled by the combination of (1) mobile; (2) cloud computing; (3) social technologies. Everything we do as citizens, as consumers, as businesses is about to be transformed.

Prepare for take off!