Next-generation technology tipped to reboot Asian economies after smartphones peak

HONG KONG – The technology boom powering Asia's economies is about to get a reboot. Explosive growth in new-era gadgets such as wearable devices and internet-linked home appliances is tipped to offset cooling sales of smartphones, which have already dinged Asia's tech manufacturers. "Where demand may be softening in some areas it will be strengthening in others," Koshy Mathai, a senior official in the International Monetary Fund's Asia Pacific Department, said in an interview. He pointed to upcoming demand from "a vast middle class in China, India and other frontier markets." The world is in the early stages of a shift from the late-stage mobile internet era to a new, data-centered computing era, Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a report last month.