5 Technology Predictions for the New Year

What's going to be the hot gadget in 2010?

ByABC News via logo
December 14, 2009, 3:08 PM

Jan. 1, 2010 -- When it comes to gadgets, tech consumers are always eager to know what's next. In 2009, iPhones and Kindles exploded in popularity, but what's going to be the new "it" craze of 2010? Technology investor Guy Kawasaki stopped by "Good Morning America" to take a look at five popular technologies and figure out what's next for the new year.

What's next for e-books?

From phones, to computers, to self-serve ticket counters at airports, touch screens are nothing new. What is new is the increasing competition and variety in ways to use them, and e-books are no exception.

With Sony, Amazon and Barnes and Noble all scrambling to get the largest share of the e-book market, what will happen in 2010? Kawasaki predicts that there will be one winner but that it's still too early to tell who it will be. He also insists it may not just be about who has the nicest hardware, but also who carries what title, "who gets the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, basically the magazine you want."

In addition, rumors abound that 2010 might be the year of an Apple touch-screen tablet combining an e-reader, music player and web browser.

"I think it'd be great," Kawasaki said. "Journalism and newspaper and that kind of newsgathering need a jump start and I think it's fairly predictable that in the next 10 years or so most of us will be reading our news on Kindle, table, plastic logic kind of things."

He added, however, that it still may be too soon to tell if the technology will actually be on the market this year.

What's Next for Phones?

In addition to e-books, the touch screen iPhone has grown so popular that it too is seeing its fair share of competition. Predictions for 2010? Competition with Verizon's Droid, which is already becoming a real competitor for the iPhone, is only going to increase in the new year.

Although it may be the year for the touch screen phone competition, when it comes to competition between the carriers and the iPhone, all bets are off.

When asked if he thinks the iPhone will ever go to another carrier besides AT&T, Kawasaki jokingly replied, "ask Steve [Jobs] -- I have no idea."