Technology and communications go hand in hand, tech provides wonderful tools that allow us to communicate and interact with one another around the world within milliseconds. Because our industries are so closely intertwined, TVG is taking a look at the past and future of the tech industry through some of the industry’s experts. 2008 proved to be an exciting year in the technology realm. Yet 2009 is predicted to have some significant technology changes as well.
Adam Ostrow on Mashable.com addresses the good, the bad and the ugly in 2008 and provides insights into 2009’s hottest technology trends. Adam has good news for Facebook fanatics… “’09 Outlook: It’s hard to see any significant threats to Facebook’s growth on the horizon, although, that’s what most people said about MySpace just a couple years ago. Personally, I see Facebook continuing to grow big in ’09, far surpassing all competitors by year’s end.”

Tim Bajarin at PC Magazine also took a stab at top tech predictions for 2009. Tim believes the tech industry will recover more quickly than real estate and auto markets and will hopefully begin its drive to growth in the third quarter of 2009. Tim also argues that smartphones will gain greater prominence in the U.S. and Europe. Smartphones will help everyone stay more connected in the years to come.

2009 tech predictions were all over the web this month, including from Mark Anderson, CEO and publisher of Strategic News Service, in an interview with BusinessWeek’s Arik Hesseldahl. His predictions include a bright future for the gaming industry, smartphones, flash drives, wall computers, carry-along PCs, improved broadband improvements worldwide and voice-enabled technology. Some of his most interesting predictions include a completely integrated internet system that learns and knows its user over time.

Over at CNN Money, forecasters believed big luxury items would suffer the most with the economic downturn, with one major exception- the smartphone. The article also takes a look at cloud computing, “in which software and other applications are delivered to end-users over networks, or “the cloud.”

Still interested in more predictions for 2009? Take a look at ComputerWorld’s compilation of predictions from a variety of industry leaders.

The strides technology and other industries are predicted to make in 2009 will likely affect how we as an industry communicate. So don’t forget to check your smartphone or you might just miss out.