A little over a decade ago comedian Eddie Izzard joked that Britain built its empire by stealing countries through the cunning use of flags.

• I claim India for Britain.
• You can’t claim us, we live here?  500-million of us.
• (Smug) Do you have a flag?
• (Flabbergasted) We don’t need a bloody flag.  It’s our country.
• No flag, no country.  You can’t have one.  That’s the rules…

Staying on the cutting edge of the technology curve works much the same way.  You may think you have your market cornered - then someone you’ve never heard of comes along and plants their “flag” …

According to Mobile Internet Report put out by the researchers at Morgan Stanley, there are five elements that identify the onset of a new computing cycle.

• Better Processing Power
• Improved User Interface
• Smaller Devices
• Lower Prices
• Additional Services

This is certainly true of the jump from Mainframes to Minicomputers, from Minicomputers to Personal Computers, and even from Personal Computers to Desktops with Internet Access.  The Researchers at Morgan Stanley even see it in the jump from Desktop Internet to Smartphones (which are already as powerful as the early iMacs).

But why does that matter?

Well because the each computing cycle has been about ten times as big as …

Web browsers have …

Until Apple’s release of the iPhone and accompanying App Store, Japan was more or less the undisputed leader in mobile technology and innovation.  Roughly 90% of the population owns some form of mobile phone.  Their mobile networks are faster and cover a greater portion of the country.

What’s more interesting, 8 years ago the breakdown of revenue from Japan’s mobile internet looked remarkably similar to the current breakdown of revenues for the rest of the world.  These are just a small number of the many observations to appear in Morgan Stanley’s 424-page Mobile Internet Report.

Japan’s market anticipated the popularity of recreational …