Telecom Tops the BusinessWeek InfoTech 100

BusinessWeek's 2009 annual ranking of the best in high tech makes one thing clear: even in challenging global economic times, lots of companies are making money. In fact, an even closer examination shows that of all industries, the telecommunications space is one of the best places to be. Of the top 100 companies in the BusinessWeek InfoTech 100, 35 of them are either telecom service providers or communications equipment providers (categories: Tele and Comm). The next largest industry group is computer companies (category: Comp) with 24 of the top 100. And finally, I can't help but notice that three of the top smartphone manufacturers on the planet are in the Top 20: HTC (13), Research in Motion (14) and Apple (19). Nokia also made it on the list, ranking 48th overall.

But what's interesting about the combination of HTC, RIM and Apple? According to Strategy Analytics, these three companies garnered 48% of global handset profits in Q4 of 2008. That's a pretty amazing feat when you consider that from a market share perspective, the same three companies represent just 5% of the total number of devices shipped annually. The raw numbers on the BusinessWeek InfoTech 100 rankings tell part of the story as well. The revenue-to-profit ratios for HTC, RIM and Apple are 5.2, 5.8 and 6.7, respectively. Put another way, it takes 5 to 6 dollars of revenue to make a buck in profit. Compare that to number one on the list Amazon with a ratio of 29.3, Accenture's 14.1 or Acer's 39.7 and it becomes clear how the smarthphone companies are well-positioned to ride out, and even thrive during, a crushing global recession.