The best and worst of 2008

Unified Communications

Our prediction is right on. It's still not usable as deployed in the real world.

RUMORS WE THOUGHT MIGHT COME TRUE IN 2008

GOOGLE BUILDS A 700 MHZ NETWORK

Nope, a big disappointment; Google will stay in its own realm: search and software.

GOOGLE BUYS SPRINT

This also didn't happen. The economy could put all sorts of bargain-hunting into play, though Google's stock has fallen, too.

MICROSOFT MEDIAROOM MELTDOWN

This doesn't look to be happening. AT&T in particular seems to be scaling OK, though that hasn't stopped Microsoft's competitors from claiming its ecosystem requires too many servers.

PRODUCTS WE THOUGHT WOULD BE GAME-CHANGERS

ANDROID

With the successful G1 launch, Android still has lots of promise.

PERSONALIZED TV

This is still expected to be a game-changer, but for 2008, personalized TV remained firmly on the bench. Privacy concerns, business model complications and the need to get basic TV working make it a future prospect, even for 2009.

BENDY FIBER

This really was a game-changing product. It led to many more MDU deployments of fiber, such a Verizon's FiOS push into New York City.

FEMTOCELLS

We still think femtocells in the home will be a big part of the fixed/mobile convergence play, but while 2008 saw some initial commercial launches, they haven't yet caught fire.

NEW SERVICES WE'D LIKE TO SEE

A usable mobile handset browser outside of the iPhone's.

For BlackBerrys and other push e-mail devices, an “off” button.

A remote control that grandparents (and aging editors-in-chief) can use without reading glasses.