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Twitter made a splash in 2009.
But it yet to grow up and find a job.
Bing
Microsoft finally found direction in it's search initiative. A direction that isn't down is an accomplishment, but they're technology has made strides too, with many webmasters getting behind it. The next hurdle is to see if the marketers get behind their ad products.
Ask.com
Just my opinion, but it looks like Ask gave up. 2009 was the year they had the least to announce, as evidenced by their press releases for 2009 [ask.mediaroom.com]. Out of 16 press releases, only twelve are related to Ask.com, four of them are about Dictionary.com. Perhaps the biggest news of 2009 for Ask is that Barry Diller wants to get rid of it. Hey Barry, just stick on Craigslist and if you don't get any offers then drag it to the sidewalk and call the Salvation Army to pick it up. ;)
Yahoo
2009 was the year Carol Bartz was named CEO and Yahoo found direction and started acting like a real company again.
Search
There have been a number of announcements about the different algos. Has anything changed dramatically? Or has it been a year for incremental changes and a focus on better file systems and hardware?
What is your list? What are the breakthrough trends in 2009 as you see it?
Do people even talk on their cell phones anymore? Seems like browsing and apps is the big draw.
Will they need to talk on them in the future?
I think 2009 mostly foreshadows major changes in 2010.
While it hasn't made a big splash yet, there were serious business and technical moves in the background where mainstream TV moves to the web in the next couple of years.
Remember how old line newspapers had a crisis in 2009? Because of what happened this year, in 2010 a similar (but larger) crisis will occur in broadcast TV.
