Top Interactive Stories of 2009 (part 2)

In part of two of our look back at the top interactive stories of 2009 we look more at the fight to be tops in the search space, talk about surfing (and more) on the go, and what ultimately that should be worth.

• Head in the Cloud: While Microsoft is once again making a heavy push into search, Google is trying to push the internet as a primary computing platform, a shot aimed squarely at the core business of the Redmond-based computing giant. The recent explosion in popularity for inexpensive (and underpowered) netbooks really speaks to the fact that people are increasingly using computers for basic tasks that are internet-centric. With its announced Chrome OS, Google is really looking to do away with most of the operating system altogether, and make the browser the central interface. They're even pushing to have applications and files that reside primarily on the cloud, meaning that storage is really distributed across multiple servers via internet, rather than solely on a local hard drive.
• There and App Again: Back on the topic of mobile, in 2009 everyone was talking about mobile apps. As smartphone competition heated up, everyone seemed to be adopting some variation of Apple's App Store, which inevitably led to size comparisons reminiscent of the search engine jockeying of ten years ago. The dark horse in all this is that as more and more of these handsets deliver true support for HTML 5 (which supports local data storage, for example) developers may find choosing to go platform-specific by building an app is more trouble (and more limiting) than it's worth.
• I'm With Facebook: Another existing trend that seemed to really jump forward in 2009 was shared authentication, a way for people to use their existing accounts from other sites to access new features on third-party sites. Perhaps the highest profile example of this was CNN's Facebook Connect-based chat during the Obama inauguration. As they watched the live webcast, they used their Facebook accounts to comment and communicate, either with the CNN community as a whole, or with just their own circle of friends. It highlight the potential of shared authentication to create an intimate experience b allowing users to bring their existing social network with them to your site.
• Moving Pictures Will Travel: When Apple launched the iPhone 3GS last summer, its new video capabilities quickly made it the top mobile device for submitting clips to YouTube. In fact, within six days of the launch of the iPhone 3GS YouTube's mobile submissions had grown by 400 percent. It's representative a more and more pervasive presence of video cameras, particularly those that are small enough to fit in your pocket. Whether it's a smart phone or a pocket camcorder, the equipment itself is becoming less and less of a barrier. The companies that serve up the video are finding it increasingly challenging to find a  business model that allows them to make enough money to constantly serve up high-bandwidth video by the terabyte to voracious consumers the world over.
• Pay for Play: Media sites were making more and more noise about getting fair compensation for their content, even threatening to charge Google for content pulled into its popular news service. Ironically one of the early success stories of the internet was Consumer Reports, which made a profitable transition to the online space by charging visitors to access their detailed product comparisons. Clearly people saw enough value that they were willing to part with a small sum in return for the assurance they were making the most informed decision on an expensive big screen TV, stereo, or car. Many newspapers meanwhile, have been making their money with their print edition while using their web presence as a place to experiment with new ways of delivering news. As more and more publications are seeing their print subscriptions dwindling, however, they're forced to return to seeing their web presences as potential profit centres. The New York Times in particular has been vocal in this campaign, exploring different models for compensation. As the year drew to a close, the hot speculation was that Apple was preparing to launch a tablet, and that part of the strategy was to position it as an interactive reading device, with licensed content that would finally bring structured payment to periodicals, in much the same way that the iPod did for the music industry? Can lightning strike twice for Apple? Last week's launch didn't disappoint, at least in terms of hype. Look for more of our take on the new device in an upcoming post.