This is a paraphrase for reference. Visit their site for the goods.
In our previous post we reviewed the Web trends of 2006, noting trends such as the hyper-growth of social networks, the push of RSS into the mainstream, consumerization of the enterprise, and the continued rise of the read/write Web.
In this post we look forward to 2007 and ruminate on what trends will be important over the coming year:
RSS, Structured Data
- RSS will go mainstream in a big way next year
- Related to the above, structured data will be a big trend next year
- Widgets exploded in 2006 but will continue rising in 2007
Enterprise
- Web Office continues to ramp up.
- The consumerization of the enterprise trend will start to infiltrate corporate IT
Web Development
- Rich Internet Apps will be a major force in 2007
- On the other hand, Google in particular will continue to push the boundaries of browser-based apps.
- Semantic Web products will come of age in 2007.
- Amazon Web Services were a surprise hit in 2006 – and expect more big things from Amazon next year
Search and Online Advertising
- Expect some shakeups in the online advertising market next year.
- Also due to ongoing issues with (CPC/PPC) online advertising, there’s a real need for a better, more robust online ad model
- 2007 will be about Search 2.0 and the rise of the vertical search engines.
Microsoft vs Google
- Microsoft’s Windows Live services will gain real momentum next year
- WebOS /GoogleOS: To counter the Vista and Windows Live threat, Google may come out with some form of GoogleOS.
- In line with this, Open Source Desktops will continue to gain momentum in ’07.
Browsers
- Browser War II. In 2007 expect the competition between IE7 and FireFox (plus Flock, Opera and Maxthon) to be intense.
- Speaking of browsers, 2007 will see an increase in WebKits.
Multimedia
- Internet-based TV will ramp up in 2007
- Mass adoption of IPTV technology in 2007 and Bittorrent will be an important part of the online video landscape too.
- P2P: With Azureus and BitTorrent, P2P got approximately $30M funding for 2007
- Virtual worlds: SecondLife will become an important platform for marketing, promotion, and of course social networking
- Virtual Money: Paypal showed the way, and we’re seeing more of it now – SecondLife LindeX, Microsoft points etc.
Consumer Apps
- The online real estate market will grow rapidly in ’07.
- The search for disruptive business models will continue! 
In other words, free consumer web apps still need to find a business model.
- While social networks dominated 2006, we wonder if the amount of time an average user spends online will start to negatively impact on their social lives in 2007 and lead to a downturn.
International Web
- International Web will finally start to get its due in mainstream media
- OLPC: One Laptop Per Child will create good buzz and may increase the adoption of thin-client like computers
- Broadband continues to grow
Mobile
- VoIP space will really hot up
- Mobile Web may be the big story of 2007
- Mobile will be a bigger development and advertising platform in ’07
- Also watch for an emerging Webphone market
Summary
Whew! There are a lot of predictions in this post, but of course we’ve probably just scratched the surface. We’d love to hear your own Web predictions for 2007. What have we missed? Please leave a comment and/or participate in our poll.
