By Mark Evans
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

So what are the best Web 2.0 applications? Technorati? Skype? Flickr? With 2005 winding down, there’s no lack of best-of lists. Michael Arrington (a.k.a. TechCrunch) offers up his must-have list. If anyone in the blogosphere has a good take on what’s good, it’s Michael who tries 100s of them. His faves include Pandora, Flickr, Memeorandum, Omnidrive and Technorati. I think the enthusiasm surrounding Web 2.0 is great but there also needs to be some thought into about how these cool apps becomes solid, viable businesses. There has been far too much focus on what’s cool rather than what’s cool and how do we make money from offering them – other than selling out to Yahoo or Google. If 2005 was the year of the Web 2.0 developer, 2006 needs to be the year of the business developer/strategist.

We Say: A much-needed dose of pragmatism needs to be included in the Web 2.0 mix in 2006.

For more thoughts on the realities facing the Web 2.0 world, click here.