4 Tech Themes That Will Be Bigger Than Internet and Mobile

In an interview last week on CNBC’s “Power Lunch,” former Piper Jaffray senior tech analyst turned venture capitalist Gene Munster said that virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics collectively are going to be a “bigger deal than the internet and mobile.”

“We think that those four themes will radically change how humans interact and work,” Munster said, noting that the unrelenting movement in the direction of more automation, as well as an increase in solutions powered by AI/cognitive technological advancement will eventually permeate wide segments of daily life causing in the process the elimination of 70% of the jobs over time.

According to a major new study released at Davos in early 2016, the rise of robots and AI – who it’s worth noting are the holy grail for business owners since they perform at a much higher rate of speed and reliability than humans and at a fraction of the cost – will result in a net loss of 5.1 million jobs over the next five years in 15 leading countries. Additionally, an Oxford study, has projections for 47 percent of the world’s currently existing jobs getting automated over the next two decades as result of The Fourth Industrial Revolution“.

Munster, who is known for his bullish in-depth coverage of Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and accuracy in predicting the tech giant’s financial potential, believes that technology trends such as VR, AR, AI and robotics “will build an absolutely fantastic future for all of us.” He added though that VR will be bigger than augmented reality.

“This is so nascent that no one is really a clear winner here, but ultimately we think VR is going to be a bigger deal…Once you get to a point where virtual and real worlds are indistinguishable, we think that consumers will flock to that”, he said.

Munster co-founded “Loup Ventures” at the end of 2016, a research driven early stage VC firm based in Minneapolis and New York. The analyst said that after 21 years at Piper, together with his co-founders, Doug Clinton and Andrew Murphy, who also have a background in research, will continue to offer insight: “We’re going to publish research on the major tech companies and startups in our themes,” he explained, adding that Loup Ventures will send out three research notes a week, focusing “on the [trends] strategic side and the tracking side”.