Forget Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL).

Forget Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG).

And while you’re at it, forget Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT), Samsung and The Laclede Group Inc. (NYSE: LG).

At least you can forget about them in three to five years, since at that time, the world will belong to the competition: Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE: NOK).

Exaggerations not withstanding, you still might want to take a peak at Nokia’s claims today. Because it’s impressive if they can pull of what they’re saying they can pull off. After all, how many times have you heard that annoying little beep on your cell phone mid-conversation, indicating that your phone battery is about to die? Or even if you’re always careful about keeping it fully charged, how much money on car chargers have you had to spend in order to do that?

Nokia says it will be able to eliminate that problem though, through a new technology they’re experimenting with. They’ve already invented a cell phone that recharges itself by leeching ambient radio waves from the air and turning them into usable power.

Pretty cool huh?

Now they’re still working out the kinks, which is why you won’t find this technology out there on the market just yet. The current models Nokia has toyed with so far can convert 5 milliwatts of radio waves, but the tech company has high hopes of upping that number first to 20 milliwatts and then eventually to 50 milliwatts.

I can honestly say that I’ll be keeping an eye on this kind of technology, though possibly not for the typical reasons. Being my father’s daughter, I made the penny-pinching mistake of taking one of the free phones when it came time to renew my contract. And ever since I got it, I’ve had to watch my battery like a hawk, as it will easily drain in 32 hours and even less at times.

Since that fateful day that I picked out the seemingly sleek, compact phone, I’ve learned a very valuable lesson: Shell out the extra cash for a better phone. And I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s come to that decision after making my mistake.

Combine that number with people who want to save some extra money on their electric bills every year, and everybody worried about global warming… and what you get is a very significant consumer pool that Nokia can bank on in a few years.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009 - by Jeannette Di Louie, Assistant Editor, Mt. Vernon Research