Most Promising: Wolfram|Alpha
Wolfram|Alpha launched in May and ended up making our list of the Top 10 Consumer Products of the year. It was also the most hyped, with the possible exception of Google Wave.
Inevitably, Wolfram Research’s “computational knowledge engine” disappointed many who were looking for a Google killer. But Alpha introduced a new paradigm for search engines: Instead of giving you a long list of links, Alpha tries to give users an answer based on information from reputable sources. It also enables users to compute and calculate things off that information.
While it isn’t useful for everybody yet, the Wolfram Alpha team has worked hard to expand Alpha’s knowledge. If you are an engineer or scientist, Wolfram Alpha might just be the most useful web app for you. For the rest of us, Alpha’s ability to solve anagrams, aggregate weather data and tell you the distance between two cities proves to be useful, too – although not as useful as the service’s ability to solve complex math problems.
Wolfram|Alpha also launched a $50 iPhone application in October. Even though Wolfram Alpha’s web interface is available for free, the company insisted that its mobile application offered enough new features to justify this price.
We listed some initial use cases for Wolfram|Alpha in July, but it’s a safe bet to say that the best of this product will be seen in 2010 and beyond.
If Web 2.0 was about creating data (user generated content, to use the most familiar term for this), then the next generation of the Web is all about using that data. Wolfram|Alpha is premised on using and computing data, so we think it’s a product to watch in 2010.
Now let us know your thoughts on our picks for Best LittleCo (Aardvark) and Most Promising (Wolfram|Alpha).