NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Hit: Messaging
First off, for hits, let's talk about messaging. This could be the year of messaging apps coming up. I'm talking about Tencent's WeChat in China, Line in Japan and other countries in Europe, WhatsApp in North America and Kik among the youth in North America. These are all key players in this space.
In the coming year, it's expected that Line will have an initial public offering. Many have speculated it will get a $30 billion valuation. Tencent's stock has already gotten a significant boost from the growth of WeChat in the past year.
More important than just an IPO, though, I expect people to start looking at messaging apps differently in 2014. They aren't just texting apps any more. These apps are morphing into the starting point for all users on their mobile phones. You don't have to leave the app any more to go play a game or buy something.
These apps could become the Internet browsers of the mobile smart phone age.
Hit: Alibaba IPO
Finally, Alibaba is expected to hold its initial public offering in 2014 after many thought it would finally go public in 2013. Most are now expecting it to happen in the first quarter.
Will it live up to the hype? Every week seems to bring a new upgrade from the sell-side to Yahoo! (YHOO) on an increased valuation assigned to its stake in Alibaba. Valuation estimates go from $100 billion to $250 billion. Where will it finally price at? I'm not sure. But this thing will be the biggest IPO of 2014, hands down. People will freak out when they get a view of just how big, how profitable and how fast Alibaba is growing, once they see the full numbers in the IPO filing.
