Although 2009 was a hard year for the global economy, the technology industry continued its growth, especially in the areas of mobile Internet, smartphones, laptops, Web applications, and the virtualized data center. Even though the progress is remarkable, among the successful innovations, some really weak products can be found.

Below you can get acquainted with some of the worst products of the tech industry in 2009, arranged in a decreasing order. As you’ll notice, that the list is dominated by mobile devices but it’s mobile sector where a lot of the innovation and investment are happening.

5. Android 1.0

It may seem unfair to make Google’s Android operating system part of this list because Android 2.0 - which powers the Verizon Droid that launched in Q4 - has developed into a competitive smartphone platform. However, before the launch of the Droid, the Android OS was a weakly developed product. The Android 1.0 devices, the T-Mobile G1 and the myTouch 3G (which technically runs Android 1.5), were horrible to use. The software was slow, clunky, and uncomfortable. Android 2.0 is much better, but still faces the danger of losing the way to success because of Linux and open source projects.

4. 7-inch netbook

During the first half of 2009, computer producers sold a lot of netbooks. The growth was driven by budget-conscious consumers who, forced by the hard economic situation had to buy less expensive devices. But unsatisfied consumer appeared soon – there were a lot of complaints about the first generation of netbooks, which featured scaled-down 7-inch LCDs and small keyboards that were not comfortable to use. Computer producers replied to the customers’ complaints in the second half of 2009 by expanding the dimensions of most netbooks to feature 10-inch screens and more standard keyboards. Now, the 7-inch netbook has been phased out, and thankfully so. Netbooks, produced now are just slightly smaller and cheaper than laptops.

3. Samsung Omnia

A brief review of different opinions about smartphones in 2009 reveals that some of the best models are iPhone 3GS, BlackBerry Tour, Palm Pre, and Verizon Droid. The common opinion about the worst smartphone of 2009 points Samsung Omnia. What’s typical for the Omnia is the Windows Mobile device with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI running on top of it. So, it had the out-dated software and speed limitations of Windows Mobile combined with the overcomplicated and unresponsive TouchWiz interface. Samsung acknowledged that Omnia is far from perfection and quickly replaced it with the Omnia 2 before the end of 2009. Still, if you want a Windows Mobile touchscreen you’d better use the HTC TouchPro2 or HTC HD2.

2. AT&T 3G coverage

With iPhone sales growth in 2009 AT&T add a lot of new wireless customers. The reputation of AT&T’s network get a great popularity. But with so many iPhone users in New York and San Francisco, the AT&T network got overloaded with the data traffic in those two cities. The result was diminished speeds for 3G Internet service and lots of dropped calls. But most of the technical press is located in New York and San Francisco and AT&T really suffered by these performance problems. Next came Verizon’s full frontal attack on AT&T’s network issues with its map ads (see below). Thus, it’s likely that 2009 will be remembered as the year that AT&T’s cobbled-together network and under-investment in 3G infrastructure were laid bare for the eyes of the world to see.

1. Google Wave

Google Wave emerged to the technology scene of 2009 with great ambitions – it aimed to replace email, or at least be what email could have been if it were invented in the 21st century. Announced at the Google I/O developer conference in the spring, Google Wave became a hot topic in the autumn when Google’s policy of making the Beta available via invitation-only caused a scandal on social networks for people clamoring for Google Wave invites. The innovation is one of those products that looks great in a presentation but makes no sense in the real world. Google Wave is useful for customers who spend much time chatting. Moreover, the product was too much advertised without being able to respond to its fame. Google Wave can find application in geographically dispersed project teams collaborating and brainstorming on documents and product development ideas in real time. Email, the way we know it now has nothing to fear. Google Wave will not be stealing its throne.