JBL: Dialing Up Nokia

Thank goodness I am in the Keys fishing this week instead of having to deal with the transit strike in New York City. I did complete the rare mackerel slam today, all three species of mackerel; however, I was fishing for sailfish so it is just slightly less impressive.

Wherever you are -- even stuck in NYC this week with the transit strike -- this is still the best season of them all.

Last week, I gave an early Christmas gift to everyone with my American Express (AXP Quote) pick. It is up only a small percentage since I picked it, but there is terrific news out on the stock this week (which I address below).

I want to stick with the Christmas spirit of making money with another stock pick today that has its roots in a country that claims the origin of Santa Claus, Finland.

St. Nicholas is said to have his origin in Turkey, my previous cell-phone play. However, northern Lapland in Finland claims the origin of the friendly fat guy that slides down chimneys with his reindeer waiting on the roof.

Calling Rudolph

There were about 815 million cell phones sold in 2005. The amount of people using mobile phones is estimated to be 3 billion by 2010, up from 2 billion today.

Consumers are becoming more and more dependent on their cell phones and don't mind spending more on something they carry with them all day. Unlike a land line, consumers upgrade their cell phones regularly with newer models that have better technology.

Two companies best positioned to benefit from the surge in demand of mobile phones are Motorola (MOT Quote) and Nokia (NOK Quote).

Motorola has been the comeback kid in the cell-phone business this year. They have been able to be the comeback kid because Nokia fell behind the curve.