You know, around this time of year, we see a lot of articles recapping the events of the last year, and looking ahead to make predictions of the year to come.  Well, we at JAMM decided to combine the two, and take a look back at the year that is to come.  I am standing here (due to the power of the Internet) on January 1, 2011 (and boy is it cold).  Anyway, the team and I have been talking about the year 2010, and I am here to recap a few of the major events which occurred in the year to come.

Let’s start with Palm.  The good news is that Palm continued to grow their WebOS operating system, bringing the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi to the Verizon network.  Unfortunately, any momentum this may have provided Palm was quickly tempered by the continued poor execution and implementation which Palm had wrought on its WebOS.  As such, although Palm enjoyed a strong first quarter, sales of WebOS based devices slipped significantly during the remaining three quarters.  By the end of 2010, although Palm had not thrown in the proverbial towel, the writing was clearly on the wall as shares of Palm stock were valued at their lowest since the introduction of WebOS.

Of course, where one company stumbles, another is never far behind, scooping up the pieces.  In this case, we saw Google repeatedly lurking behind Palm, lapping up the dissatisfied converts.  Its Android Operating System became the standard bearer  of 2010.  Following up on the success of the Droid and Nexus One, 2010 saw Google placing its Android OS on every network.  In 2010, Android, not the iPhone, took its place as the mobile operating system that users could not live without.

Speaking of the iPhone, what is going on there?  Sure, Apple released a new version of the iPhone, aptly names iPhone 4.  And sure, the stalwarts all flocked to upgrade, but the murmur which accompanied iPhone 3 became a dull roar of dissatisfaction.  More and more, users demanded more from their phones, and more and more Apple stumbled and balked upon delivery.

Additionally, 2010 saw the rocky marriage between the iPhone and AT&T finally come to an end.  Unlocked iPhone devices could now be bought directly from Apple, and used on any GSM network.  Sure, the promise of a CDMA version of the iPhone is still rumored…more than likely at Verizon, but we have yet to see proof of that coming anytime soon.

With the loss of its exclusivity agreement with the iPhone, AT&T saw a virtual stampede as dissatisfied users took their now unlocked iPhones to more stable 3G and 4G networks.  By the end of the year, AT&T’s mobile division faced an uncertain future.

All of this uncertainty also plays right into the hands of Microsoft, which will finally release their much-hyped Windows Mobile 7.  Just as Windows 7 was everything Microsoft intended Windows Vista to be, Windows Mobile 7 will be everything Windows Mobile 6 was supposed to have been…only this one if coming several years late.  Whether this will be the mobile operating system which saves Microsoft or too little too late remains to be seen at the end of the year.  While many users had fled the Windows Mobile operating system, Microsoft continued to enjoy strong market penetration, with Windows Mobile 7 releasing on all of the major mobile networks.  While the reviews were generally positive, it released much later in the year than expected, and by year’s end, it is impossible to tell whether Microsoft will be able to draw users away from other mobile networks, including its chief competitor in Google (as mentioned, Google took a significant bite out of Apple’s market dominance, making Android, not the iPhone, the market leaders).

Changing directions, 2010 could aptly be called the year of the eReader.  Whereas Amazon introduced us all to electronic books in 2009 with its revamped version of the Kindle eReader, the floodgates really opened in 2010, as over a dozen mainstream eReaders became available.  As a result of this competition, not only did ebooks finally reach the masses, they did so at a price which made everyone happy (with some ebook readers coming in at under $100).  The biggest change to the ebook market, however, is the availability of color e-ink based devices.  By the end of 2010, the end of paper and ink books seems to have become inevitable, as they join video tapes and CD’s on our shelves of obsolete technology.

Well, that is our look back at 2010.  Sure, there are a lot more things that happened (here is a hint, watch out for June…you will not want to miss it), but this is a look at the highlights (and in a few cases, lowlights) of the year.  See you next year for our look back at 2011.