Best Buy Co., Inc. (BBY), ARM Holdings plc (ADR) (ARMH) & Betting On The ‘Internet of Things’

Just because the mobile revolution is already underway doesn’t mean that you’ve missed out on ARM Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:ARMH). In fact, since the company only licenses its chips and does not manufacture them the company is constantly in innovation mode, designing and licensing its chips to companies that use them in all sorts of projects. Freescale Semiconductor Ltd (NYSE:FSL) sells its ARM-based i.MX series of processors to a number of companies in the automotive, industrial and consumer device markets.

Freescale Semiconductor Ltd (NYSE:FSL) also sells an i.MX-powered touch sensing device called CRTOUCH that can be embedded into all sorts of products — refrigerators included. A compelling user interface is important. What’s the point of a device connecting to the Internet if you can’t easily use it?

And while our touchscreen-featured refrigerator is only one example, you can imagine the possibilities for other products that could benefit from having tiny computers in them. Connected to the Internet and loaded with software applications, there are a number of situations where items that we normally use today could become more useful. Just look at Cisco’s estimates for how much mobile data traffic there will be in 2017, and you get the idea.

As that happens, look for the aforementioned companies to reap the benefits of being early to this market. It’s unclear how consumer products companies will make money with this trend, but companies that provide components for the Internet of things stand a good chance of finding a large market for their products. This in effect is where the future of technology lies: not within a computer sitting on a desktop or in our lap but in the consumer products and appliances that we rely on everyday.

The article The Companies to Bet on for the Internet of Things originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Daniel Cawrey.

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