Business Predictions Made in June 2000 for June 2006 by Frankie (Mad) Hatter

1. Sony will be toast in the mobile music market by 2005. The Walkman brand will count for not very much, Mini-disc nowhere and owning their own record label (guaranteeing content) irrelevant. Yes I know they have dominant market share, fantastic products, sexy branding and fragmented competition, but they don’t understand the importance of software.
   
2. 10% of total Chinese exports will be bought by one (US) company.
   
3. Microsoft will have nightmares about a company making over a billion dollars profit per annum in 2006 from SEARCH. Yes I know Microsoft employ some of the smartest people on the planet, and they have the bandwidth to see into the future, but I’m telling you, its not about home page portals with banner advertising , this company will do it without any 3rd party banner advertising on its homepage!
   
4. In 2006 $540 million dollars (just over twice annual sales) will be paid for a website (myspace.com) by a 75 year media mogul who ‘gets’ the internet in 2005.
   
5. The biggest PC business in the world won’t be HP or Compaq (even combined, which they will become) or IBM who will sell out to the Chinese, or Gateway who will retreat back to its core market. This company will do it with no dealers, no shops, no propitiatory technology, and with virtually no R&D.
   
6. We in the first world will be telephoned by people in the second world, who will sell us things on behalf of companies that might have offices and factories within 50 miles of where we live.
   
7. The third biggest grocer in the world, who is also the biggest on-line grocer in the world, will in 2006 have its biggest store in Budapest, and be so successful in its home market it will attract the attention of regulators for its dominant position.
   
8. In 2007 the biggest car manufacturer in the world will not be American or German. It will make more profits per annum than the three biggest American firms put together, two of which will be making eye watering losses. Oh, and it will still not have made any significant acquisition (up to 2006), giving it a track record of over 25 years of only organic growth.
   
9. In 2006 internet advertising will finally overtake newspaper advertising spend in the UK.
   
10. You can have a number one hit in the UK without selling a single record, tape or CD.

Send your 2006 predications for 2010 and SalesPathways will put them in a time capsule (OK we’ll publish them next month). If you are struggling to identify all the companies drop us an email for the answers.

Lynn Joy
T:  01789 734400
E: lynnj@salespathways.com

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