Top 10 recession-proof technologies

Top 10 recession-proof technologies

Times may have been tough before, but few economic slumps have been on the level of the recession currently gripping the planet.

Now that we are officially in the midst of the worst economic crisis this side of the Second World War, why don't we take a look at a few technologies which may be poised to make lemonade out of the bountiful crop of financial lemons currently being doled out?

We had considered doing the technologies most likely to fail, but that seemed too harsh. Besides, it's difficult to condemn someone's business without seeming like a black crow.

We've seen recessions in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century. This one looks daunting, but life will go on. So here we have 10 technology that should come through stronger than ever.

10. Gaming consoles
Shaun Nichols: At first, this seems a bit counter-intuitive; why would people spend on things such as gaming consoles in a recession? The answer is because it's cheaper than going out.

This was an idea put forward last year by analysts, and it holds up when you think about it. Dinner and a night out on the town costs a lot more than grabbing some takeout and schooling your mates in SoCom.

There's also the rise of Nintendo's Wii and the way it has broadened the gaming market. Hard times often bring people closer to their families, and these days many families have replaced the traditional board game with console trivia or casual family games.

Iain Thomson: Shaun's last point is very telling. Visiting my godmother last Christmas we ended up playing the Wii she had got from Santa. For a woman in her seventies she plays a wickedly mean game of Mario Kart and derived great pleasure from crushing her only godson's ego and subjecting him to savage taunting. Good thing I love her to bits.

Home entertainment always does well in a recession, for the reasons Shaun has outlined. This is even more accurate with some of today's systems. Buying a Blu-ray player, for example, is almost as expensive, and in some cases more so, than buying a PlayStation 3 that plays the Blu-ray discs and provides gaming fun as well.

While there will always be a hardcore of people out there who refuse point blank to play video games, presumably for fear that their brain cells will be depleted from even touching a controller, this group is shrinking rapidly. Games are now made that appeal to all strata of society, and consoles will do very well out of it.

9. Discount web sites
Shaun Nichols: We're not just talking about close-out sites or second-hand retailers here, though I'm sure some companies are turning to those sites for furniture and supplies.

There are a bevy of sites out there aimed at doing things just a bit cheaper, and for many companies looking to save cash any way possible these services could have an appeal.

Take travel as a prime example here. While companies have significantly cut down or even eliminated travelling costs altogether, many still rely on going round the globe to get things done. For those companies, there are a bevy of discount sites designed to get a cheaper price for things such as airfare and hotel reservations.

While the economic downturn has hit these services as hard as anyone, they could see more business from cost-conscious business travellers and greater customer loyalty when things pick up and people start travelling more often.

Iain Thomson: I met my 'A' level economics teacher a few years after leaving school and we were discussing what he had taught us about supply and demand and its relationship to pricing.

"You know, Iain, that text book stuff about pricing, it's all rubbish. You realise that don't you? People charge what they think they can get away with," he said.

Differential pricing is a fact of life, indeed, and what these discount sites do is take advantage of that to offer lower prices to savvy customers.

In the boom years people couldn't be bothered to find out all this information; the lazy just paid what was asked. A few people did search around and did very well out of it.

Back when I was flying from London to New York every other month I did very well out of finding a site selling Air India tickets at the last minute, and got to enjoy very cheap flights with excellent service, fantastic curries and a Bollywood film thrown in.

But the fat days are over for the time being and individuals, companies and groups are all looking for a discount. They will find it online.