Donald Rumsfeld: "I don't do predictions." "We do!": TelecomTV

As journalists we are always beings sent predictions and prognostications about the future of the global ICT sector. They arrive throughout the year, sent by analysts, researchers and PR companies, but the bombardment reaches epic proportions in the last weeks of December and the beginning of January every year.

There is of course a big difference between prediction (with its connotation of smoke, mirrors and crystal - and other - balls), and scientific forecasting based on what is probable in the near future given what has gone before.

Nostradamus, the 16th century French "seer" published his "Prophecies" in 1555. Some say he predicted the Great Fire of London, the French Revolution, the rise of Hitler and the end of the world - in July 1999. But, hey, what's 10 years slippage between friends?

Sympathisers tend not to talk about the things that Nostradamus seemed to forsee (have you tried to read any of his "quatrains"? Vague isn't the word) but that didn't happen and prefer to move on to his next utterance that might, as many have, eventually be retrofitted to match past events - such as the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.

Today, believers are much exercised by a prediction Nostradamus made for what they reckon is 2012. In two years time it seems "the camel shall drink from the Danube" and this will signal the beginning end of the world except that as his prophecies actually run as far into the future as the the year 3797, maybe the world will end in the 38th century.

So, enough of prediction. Let's move on to TelecomTV's forecast for 2010. Twelve months is about as far ahead as we are prepared to venture. So, in no particular order, here goes with our Top Ten for 2010...

1) The Cloud
The Cloud will be the big news in 2010. Think in rather broader terms than simply cloud-this and cloud-that - such as cloud infrastructure, cloud services, cloud storage and cloud computing and so on. The point is that this year The Cloud could well become a strategy, a corporate approach for both providers and users of technology. It will of course continue to involve the specific Cloud X elements, but it will come to be seen as a fundamental way of arranging, outsourcing, sharing and taking forward service concepts. One of the most oft-heard questions of 2010 will be "What's your cloud strategy"?

2) Android
Watch the open smartphone OS really hit the market this year There' s already a smattering of phones out there - from HTC and Motorola in particular - but Android will get broader with Google's Nexus offering and new evolutionary branches from the Android tree starting to sprout. Think netbooks, slates and even set-top boxes. Some will work and be successful, some won't and will fail, but Android (and its new look Market) will dominate this area in the long run.

3) Apps stores
And, apropos the above, apps stores will be more thoughtfully deployed this year. Not just by handset vendors, but by telcos - and not just for specific smartphone operating systems. They will be developed to meet needs across the handset cost and capability range. 2010 will be the year of the cross-platform App Store. Meanwhile, the smartphone app stores we've come to know and love will continue to grow.