[Mugflefusysef]

As we hit the final days of 2009, a year that was tough for many in business, one wonders what is in store for 2010.

On the technology front, by the end of 2009 Twitter has lost its varnish (if it had any in the first place). As one newspaper reported recently, when you see politicians using Twitter to communicate you know it has lost its coolness factor and is well on the way out the back door.

The same can be said about a lot of the social media rubbish on the web today.

Meanwhile, it seems that several billion people are - all at the same time - developing iphone (and other carrier) applications. Which sounds great, in principle. However how are users going to sort the quality from the crap? When you need a GPS based system for telling which way the wind is blowing and you have a choice of 341 apps to help you find out, one result may be decision paralysis. Its easier to just take off a sock and hold it in the air!

It's like going to one of those fancy French restaurants with a 48 page menu. Too many choices to wade through and too difficult to understand what each one really is going to taste like. So you end up taking advice from the waiter (who, as he has a vested interest, flogs you the expensive bony pigeon in some thick sauce that hides the fact that pigeon is light on both substance and taste.)

So perhaps some smart dude needs to develop an iphone app that sorts through the iphone app clutter and helps you make a decision. (Please let me know if I am behind the 8-ball and it already exists!)

What technologists and business people alike forget in all this process is that most people already lead very full lives. They have real friends and family. Work hard (whether for 'the man' or as entrepreneurs). And any free time is focussed on things they are passionate about (for some this is just sleeping).

So perhaps 2010 will be the year that people clear out more junk from their lives ... be it real world junk or technology. And herein lies a continuing entrepreneurial opportunity.

Things that simplify our lives will always do well. The ipods did well as they made it simple to download and listen to our favourite sounds. Same with the iphone. The billion apps in development may just confuse and complicate our lives.

We also like websites that provide simple reviews on specific products and services. Anything to help us sort through the online clutter. (On the other hand, domain parking, while a bonafide business model, significantly adds to the problem of web clutter).

In the real world, Business Switch has done well as people starting a business in Australia just want to get things operational. They haven't got the time or patience to sort through 400 government websites - each with its own angle - pretending they know how to start a business up. Nor do they have the energy to wade through 3,273,800 Google web pages on how to start a business. They just want to get started!

They also want personal advice from real entrepreneurs who are the real thing. They want advice that is relevant to their specific situation. Not something quoted by some 'rah rah rah' American business evangelist or from a theory-based textbook. By the way, for those business coaches who are faking it, just remember that most people can tell a rubbish-spewer from a long way off.

As for start up opportunities, it would be fair to say we have started many online business in 2009. However, by the end of the year the number of people starting retail businesses had picked up pace. We wonder whether this trend will continue in the new year.

We would really like to know your feelings on what's in store for 2010. What's going to be hot? What is not? What new real world or online business is going to scale up? What is on a downward spiral?

In closing, on behalf of the team at Business Switch, we wish all at Aussie Tycoon a great Christmas season and a safe and happy New Year. Catch you online in 2010.