Mobile Maverick Awards 2009

Optimism makes or breaks a startup. Without it, venture capitalists would never invest millions of dollars in young companies, and their groundbreaking ideas would never have a chance to shift paradigms.

Thanks to the current recession, optimism would seem to be in short supply. In fact, only six venture-backed companies went public last year—the fewest since 1977. But that doesn’t mean it’s all doom and gloom: The bar has been set higher. And only the most compelling startups are gaining traction.

Our 2009 Mobile Maverick Award winners are uniquely poised to change the face of mobile technology; from a versatile, touch-enabled laptop that lasts 15 hours on a charge to a headset that can literally read your mind, these 11 startups have plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the future.