Silicon Insider: The Next Great Tech Year ... 2009

Jan. 11, 2008 — -- If you are going to make predictions about the coming year in tech, it's always best to wait until after the first couple weeks of January. That's because the most important news -- at least in consumer electronics -- comes right after the first of the year at the Consumer Electronics Show and MacWorld.

If you read this column last week, you got my macro-predictions for 2008 in tech, notably:

And next week's MacWorld may prove me wrong and Apple will announce the next "Jesus" product (as the iPhone was nicknamed). But I doubt it. Beyond a few interesting upgrades -- and one interesting long-shot: a "touch" computer featuring the iPhone interface -- it seems less and less likely that this will happen. And that means that Apple will largely have to go with what it's got and compete on price and distribution -- not its greatest strengths.

OK, those are the big ones. But what about actual devices -- the kinds of products, like the Nintendo Wii, that can buoy an entire industry (even an entire economy) out of recession? Is there anything we can see coming right now that will spare us the recession in tech? And if not, can we at least get a glimpse of the hot products of 2009 that will lead us into the next boom.

No. And Yes.