10 Sites and Services That Will Matter in 2010

http://www.pcworld.com/article/185146/10_sites_and_services_that_will_matter_in_2010.html?tk=twt_nm


A year ago, I chose ten sites and services to watch in 2009. Of those ten--TV.com, Qik, Boxee, Loopt, Blip.fm, Power.com, Tweetag, Hi5, Tripit, and BlackBerry AppWorld--only Boxee and (to a lesser extent) Blip.fm became well-known names in the past 12 months. According to Web-analytics company Alexia, though, Tripit and Qik saw significant growth in 2009, and Qik's time in the sun may still be coming. Truth is, the past 12 months were a tough time for any new site or service to find its legs--just staying alive was doing pretty good.

So I'll give myself a score of 20 percent for last year. But this year will be different--I've gone for some safer bets this time. My picks for 2010 include Websites, Web services, and mobile sites; since so many sites and services now run on desktops and on mobile platforms, it seems pointless to make a distinction. I did not, however, select any mobile apps, which I still consider a different category. With that in mind, here are the sites and services that I think have a decent shot of leaping into the limelight during 2010.