2008 Web Tech Predictions

Here are some bold predictions for next year (while listening to Scriabin’s Op. 8/No. 12 on repeat in the San Francisco sun, so you’ll have to bear with me here…):

• The proliferation of Single page webapps (SPA:s)
• OAuth gets support from some major players (Google, Yahoo, etc) which leads to some really interesting inter-webapp mashups
• Gmail sort of kills Facebook for many mainstream users (by offering status updates, some kind of social graph interface, etc)
• A handful of OpenSocial apps get a surprising amount of traction, with more exposure than any single social network
• Spotify is a smash hit, and people in areas with mobile broadband (like Scandinavia) start to realise they won’t have to download music, ever again
• Twitter gets aquired, possibly by Yahoo (who I’m sure will do better in 2008)
• Flash 9 “Moviestar release” kills Joost
• Wikia kills Google (ok, I don’t really believe this will happen, but it sure would be interesting…)

UPDATE: Here are some more 2008 predictions from the latest What’s Next panel with Henrik, Joakim, Tomas and me (In Swedish, sorry!)

 December 31st, 2007