One thing is certain this year; the technology sector is going to be busy.

2008 is going to be a landmark year, with several technology shifts on the horizon and companies set for fierce competition as the tough trading conditions in countries such as the US create problems for the more blinkered hardware, software and services companies that have failed to look behind their home market. Those that see the bigger global picture will be stepping up their efforts to grab market share or establish a foothold in emerging markets such as China, Eastern Europe and parts of Africa.

Here is my list of ten technology predictions for 2008 – I am confident about these, but just to be on the safe side I won’t be backing them up with cash bets this year.

1) Apple to release ultra lightweight laptop – For a change I am writing this on my Sony Vaio rather than my MacBook, and the reasons are that the Sony is half the weight of the MacBook and much thinner. Expect something with a metal of carbon fibre case with a 12-inch display and maybe even a solid-state hard drive.

2) Apple to release 3G or EVDO-based iPhone (or both) – expect an announcement at MacWorld Expo in San Francisco in mid January, but don’t expect to see a product on sale for at least another six months in the US, and 10 months before it hits the UK.

3) Oracle to keep buying – the spending spree at the world’s leading database vendor shows no sign of slowing, and why should it. The company is awash with cash and is doing the smart thing – diversifying and overhauling its technology base at the same time. Expect Larry’s boys to make at least two more significant investments, one in mobile and the other in business information technology.

4) Microsoft to buy Palm – it’s the only company to produce consistently good Windows Mobile devices, and Microsoft is realising that like the Xbox 360, if you want a platform done properly you have to do it yourself. HTC makes good devices, but they are built by engineers for engineers, not users. Those from traditional phone makers such as Samsung and Motorola have been inconsistent – some such as the Samsung i320 and Motorola Q 9h have been brilliant, others have been nothing short of junk. Palm is struggling and is a shadow of its former self. Microsoft knows that the future of its smartphone platform rests on good hardware – Palm is the answer and ownership is the way to guarantee control.

5) Google to bid for new 3G licences in the UK – much like it is in the US; expect Google to throw its hat into the ring for the upcoming 3G auction for leftover spectrum.

6) Growth in mobile data services – more devices and more price plans offering all-you-can-eat mobile data, particularly on 3G as all five existing networks figure out that the way to make any money back on their 3G investments is through data, not through voice traffic.

7) Skype to be sold – eBay has realised it overpaid for Skype. It is also realising that it has no use for the business or the technology that warrant owning the company. Skype will either be dumped via an IPO or sold off to an existing telco such as BT, AT&T or Verizon.

8 ) RIM to produce a decent 3G BlackBerry – not so much a prediction as a request, please make a BlackBerry with 3G support, a decent browser and a keyboard that people with normal size hands can use. Also – lose the ball, bring back the wheel!

9) Movie downloads come to the UK – 2008 is set to be the year that the UK transitions from DVD rental by post to DVD rental by download. Widespread broadband coverage means there is user community that can physically use such a service, while the arrival of the BBC iPlayer, 4oD, Sky Anytime and other on-demand TV services mean that movie rental in this country must also go on-demand, potentially opening up the market for new operators and probably hammering another nail into the coffin of Blockbuster.

10) Microsoft and Yahoo merge – the company that Microsoft really wants to cut a deal with is SAP, and many including me believe that SAP feels the same way. The trouble is that none of the competition regulators that would have a say in such a deal would never ever let it happen. More likely to get regulatory approval would be a tie-up between the Windows maker and lacklustre internet commodity Yahoo. A tie-up would allow Microsoft to dump its disastrous MSN content operation, consolidate advertising resources with Yahoo’s more experienced business (and bigger market share) while giving Yahoo’s web technologies access to the holy grail – Windows source code. For Yahoo, it will give the business and founder/chief executive Jerry Yang a way out as on its own, the company has no real chance of regaining ground on the bigger and more popular Google.