Gene Munster: Game Over for Apple, Samsung Competitors

Piper Jaffray Managing Director and noted Apple AAPL bull Gene Munster believes the smartphone industry will be a two-horse race between Apple and Samsung in the coming years. Competitors such as Research in Motion RIMM, Nokia NOK and Microsoft MSFT will slowly reduce to nothing, according to him. Mr. Munster made his apocalyptic remarks in a CNBC appearance on Squawk on the Street, where he elaborated on his latest call that says Apple will be history's first trillion-dollar company. "It all comes down to the iPhone," he told CNBC. "Iphone will conquer the market. There will be 1.6 billion handsets sold annually in the future, and that will be largely divided between Apple and Samsung." "Increasingly, there will no longer be any room for smartphone operators like RIMM, MSFT and Nokia." he continued, commenting on the technological and appeal gap of these contenders with Apple. Asked whether the hyperbolic AAPL chart gave him pause when making his latest call, he said he looked at the fundamentals. "It is a phenomenal chart, but honestly it is merely a reflection of a phenomenal fundamental story." he defended the bullishness of his call. "Look at the wallet-share Apple has currently. For that matter, look at the mind share as well as the share of investment dollars the company will eventually take." So where does Gene Munster see the extra $400 billion in Apple's market capitalization coming from? "Half of it will come from new tech, and half will come from competitors." he believes. AAPL reached an all-time high of $631.29 shortly after open today.