The Digital Skeptic: Mobile Tech That Moves Markets

NEW YORK (MainStreet) -- The Beignets and syrupy, crushed-ice "snowball" desserts here are sweet. But the Big Easy's lesson to a broken investing environment is not. Seven years after Katrina wiped out much of the city, when the hurricane comes it's on you to find high and dry ground.

In today's no-growth mobile tech markets, that boils down to picking the pockets of value in an otherwise subsiding digital delta. Remember that cell networks and the phones that run on them remain the sucker's bet they've been for 20 years (now joined by the apps designed for them).

But if you know where to look, don't overreact and understand how the pieces fit together, money can be still be made in mobile. Here are the devices I am in touch with down here that are good places to start.

Apple iPhone 4S ($199 with two-year contract)
I know: I'm not keeping this gig long if my "insider's pick" is a mobile device from Apple(AAPL) . Any dope knows the iPhone is a market mover. But what is overlooked is that, at least for now, there is no limit as to the spell Apple casts over markets. Forget the new laptop with nothing more than a new screen, the iPhone 4S turned one of the dregs of techdom -- voice recognition -- into a legit, bet-able product. Who cares that Siri doesn't work like it does for John Malkovich in the ads -- any add-on Apple bakes into its devices makes for investor fair game.

The trick, of course, is finding the right bet to take, since any investment close to this company has been ginned up to Mars. Still, there's no choice but to keep Apple in the model and hope upon hope that one day some nutty trading algo somewhere thinks Greece or Spain are more important than the iPhone. And a bargain will be had.