VoipNorms Top Ten 2009 Predictions midyear recap:

Yes, it is nearly the middle of the year (hard to believe) and I thought I would recap the predictions so far and see what has come true and what’s still to come.

Starting at number 10...

10. There will be more prediction lists for 2010 than 2009. With the economy on the down side predictions for 09 are way down.

I think we all seen a drop in IT predictions this year, with company’s strapped for cash who wants to predict the number one thought on everyone’s mind – unemployment. Slam-dunk.

9. Apple will launch a UC application called the iUC. No one will care what it does but you know everyone will want it.

With Steve Jobs on the mend after surgery who know what Apple will do in the last half of the year, with the new iPhone launched recently the iUC is just around the corner I am sure.

8. The new US President will get to keep his Blackberry once he takes office even against advice from security personnel.

Last time I looked the tech-savvy President was still hooked to his BB. Slam-dunk.

7. Free Open Source software will be the only growth industry for anything as budgets tighten.

This one will be hard to quantify, so by admission of any true information to substantiate this claim another slam dunk I would say Just out of interest though here is a quick story on developers turning to open source as the platform of choice.

6. A company will somehow use an ATA, an analog phone and maybe some string to create the first UC enabled analog device.

I think I will take the honors here. Where I work we used an ATA, a Panasonic cordless phone to create what I call the UC AnWifPan (the string was to tie the phone to the users pants as a holder). Look for partners coming soon. Slam-dunk.

5. Due to the downward economy the traditional PBX will make a comeback as a UC enabler.

Okay so maybe a bit of a miss on this one so far, unless you of course count a drop of VoIP conversions as a TDM PBX come back. What the hell. Another slam-dunk.

4. Someone from Cisco will make the claim that Microsoft’s UC solution has to many servers and someone from Microsoft will claim Cisco’s UC solution has to many applications, all this will happen at VoiceCon.

I think this one is a given, I don’t even have to be there to know it happened. Slam dunk.

3. Microsoft and Cisco UC divisions will put their differences behind them after VoiceCon.

This one I think is a miss. Something lead me to believe they could work together in a harmonious way in the UC space. What was I thinking. Although, I didn’t say which VoiceCon. Look for the healing hands in San Francisco.

2. A hardware vendor will make the claim they are a software company.

I think we all know who this is, do I need to say it:-) Slam dunk.

and finally number ...

1. Someone somewhere is going to create a UC application that has nothing to do with UC at all.

This one is for the readers. If you know of a product that has nothing to do with UC but has been marketed as such, please send me an email or make a comment.