As we get into a holiday season, and see the New Year come forward with all its promise of happiness and prosperity, many of us are taking the time to reflect on what is in store for 2010. Looking back, 2009 has been a year marked with global financial crisis, job lay-offs, budget cuts, big corporate scandals. However, on the positive side, 2009 has also been the year when we saw continued acceleration in startup economy and IT innovations especially in mobile technologies, clean green IT, renewable energy, health care systems and social networking. I see some strong trends and predictions for 2010, those that I believe are worth thinking about as we look to the year ahead.

Prediction #1: Google Phone will be a Game Changer!

2010 will continue to see strong adoption of mobile internet and smart phones. I personally believe that mobile internet is here to dominate over the next five years. Google’s foray into mobile devices and OS will definitely be a game changer given its strong integration with Google services like Gmail, Picasa, maps and others. Apple iPhone, BlackBerry RIM will continue to hold onto their early mover advantages, however, Google phone will create a meaningful penetration in this ever important marketplace. There are some significant advantages that Google brings to the table, as it controls critical consumer content and applications, which will provide a very seamless integration of mobile hardware, OS and fully integrated consumer applications.

Prediction #2: Mobile Payments will Become a Reality

Mobile Internet is both about communication and commerce. 2010 will see a strong adoption of mobile based commerce. Payment is a critical enabler of such transactions. Till date, mobile commerce is still in an early adopter phase. But, innovative companies like Boku, Square and number of promising startups are beginning to destroy the barriers on mobile commerce. Consumers are ready for using their phones for transactions, in 2010; finally the technologies will be in place to enable mobile commerce well past the early adopters.