FierceMobileContent Predictions for 2010

More than just a new year, 2010 heralds a new decade, an empty canvas that mobile technology promises to define: Smartphone penetration is rising, application development is booming and content providers are translating all of their signature properties to the mobile platform. And while the global economy is still in turmoil, venture capital is returning to the mobile segment in force, topped off by a series of mergers and acquisitions that closed out 2009 in style. No doubt, at least a few entrepreneurs rang in 2010 by lighting Cuban cigars with $100 bills, drunk not just on champagne but also on the possibilities of the mobile ecosystem they're helping redefine.

• 1: Micropayments will galvanize original mobile content efforts
• 2: Navigation applications will shift from premium to ad-subsidized
• 3: Mobile commerce will finally go mainstream
• 4: Ereaders will emerge as the next hotbed of mobile software innovation
• 5: Olympics, World Cup fail to ignite the mobile TV revolution

There's no such thing as a sure thing, but here are five trends likely to shape the mobile content landscape in the year ahead. Place your bets. --Jason