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Mary Meeker, probably the banking world's single best-known person in technology, has joined venture capitalists Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, backers of Google, Amazon, Zynga and many clean-tech companies in recent years.

Meeker analyzes technology trends and gives research-dense, high energy presentations at conferences like O'Reilly and TechWeb's Web 2.0 Summit. Last year she discussed research finding that use of the mobile web will surpass use of desktop browsers, globally, within 5 years. How prominent is Meeker? Sarah Lacy, who has covered the Silicon Valley VC market for years, puts it this way at TechCrunch this morning: "As an analyst, Mary Meeker was as famous in the dot com glory days as [Kleiner's John] Doerr was as a VC, so it's appropriate and seemingly a long time coming that the two would wind up as partners."

You know cloud computing is big.
Then you see the analyst forecasts like the ones compiled by Total Cloud.

And you have to ask yourself: Do you believe these numbers?

Here are the market estimates that Total Cloud collected and posted to its blog:

Forrester Research just released its annual survey of American technology adoption, this time focusing on the generational divide. The findings, which arose from a survey of over 37,000 participants, reveal that when it comes to the adoption of digital tools and technology, the generation gap still exists, with Generation Xers and Yers far ahead of both Boomers and Seniors.

The report delves into everything from mobile use to media consumption and PCs to social networking. The takeaway, says Forrester, is that Gen Y "lives and breathes" a digital social life, Gen Xers are masters of the functional benefits of technology, but those older are much more reserved in nearly all areas.

According to Credit Suisse analyst Jonathan Chaplin, AT&T doesn't need to worry about the long-rumored, but yet-to-launch Verizon iPhone. Based on survey data, he found that only 23% of AT&T iPhone users would switch to Verizon, and, perhaps more shockingly, 51% of subscribers reported satisfaction with AT&T's service.

As a result of this new data, the analyst firm upgraded AT&T's stock from "Neutral" to "Outperform" (a buy rating) noting that the stock would retain its position even if Verizon gets the iPhone next year, as many industry insiders expect.

We already know the iPad is popular - it sold 2 million units in its first 60 days, and then 3 million by the 80-day point. But how big of an impact will the iPad have in 6 months? A year from now? Analysts are starting to weigh in on this topic, and the numbers they're coming up with are big. Very big.

According to Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi, Apple could sell 25 million iPads in 2011. Barclays Capital, meanwhile, predicts 28 million tablets will be sold in 2011, with Apple owning the majority of that market for several years.

Jeremiah Owyang knows what he wants and he knows how to get it, fast. Just short of two years after joining Forrester, the second biggest professional analyst firm in the US, Owyang announced yesterday that he's decided to leave. From working in the marketing department of Hitachi Data Systems to joining business podcast network startup Podtech to becoming the first blogger to be hired as an analyst - Owyang's last five years have been a model of professional advancement through social media.

He hasn't disclosed what he's going to do next yet, but his so-far brief career as probably the most social-media savvy member of the relatively conservative analyst industry offers a rich snapshot of how this important part of the business world is changing. Owyang has already played a big role in changing it.

How do you make money if you give your software away for free? That's the classic question asked of Open Source software vendors and the expected reply is that they charge customers for software customization and support. That's not the way it works anymore, though, according to a report published today by analyst firm The 451 Group.

Titled "Open source is not a business model," the report challenges some long held beliefs about the technology business. Not everyone is happy with the 451 Group's conclusions, either.