OK, it is that time of year again, the time when the yearly wrap ups must be done. With but a few days left, I thought I would review a few of the major areas of growth in 2007. Let’s start with the iPhone by Apple… It is not the iPhone per se that needs to be acknowledged, but more the mobile device. Apple is a master at design and functionality. I learned this first hand as I switched to a MacBook Pro this year. The iPhone will serve as a harbinger of things to come. Right on the heels of that success, Google announced their paradigm for how mobile software could be written – and many predict, they will soon own their own piece of the 700 mhz spectrum and a phone of their own design. This may push mobile ahead even further.

What lags behind at this moment is the business software for these mobile devices. Banks rolled out the first generations of mobile banking so we have a good sign there, but I am surprised that more companies have not modified their applications to run on the mobile devices. I am sure it is coming.

Another trend that began to blossom in 2007 is the widget/gadget deliver of software. I have a blog coming soon about widget phones because I am so intrigued with the people that are delivering IP telephony right from the desktop. Widgets started as just small applications that could be dropped on the desktop to check the weather, game scores, your stock portfolio, your laptop’s battery, and even the phases of the moon. Widgets are now growing into more sophisticated application platform that can save us from having to log into Websites and clicking through 3 screens in order to get needed functionality. This means that we will soon see banking widgets, healthcare widgets, and accounting widgets available as a whole new delivery method for software services. The bonus will be combining widgets with the mobile explosion above so that we can have a suite of widgets/gadgets that we prefer and can easily load them on a laptop, desktop, or PDA.  At that point, we will only be one click away from needed functionality on whatever device we happen to be in front of. If you have not joined the widget world yet, at least go to Google and setup a custom login page so you can see all the free widgets people have provided. Then imagine all of those available for drag and drop onto your desktop.

Stepping back even further, I always try to evaluate each year in context of other years. So was 2007 a year when more technology blossomed than other years? The trend has certainly been towards more growth since the lean years of 2001 and 2002. I think it is safe to say that we are in fire hose territory at this point. There is more useful technology coming at us than any one human being can digest. With that said, it is sure fun trying…