Newsweek just made its 2010 tech predictions and No. 9 is that Steve Ballmer will be pushed out as chief executive officer at Microsoft.

Newsweek notes that Microsoft's stock has dropped by 50 percent since Ballmer became CEO 10 years ago. Here is an excerpt:

Distracted by the Windows Vista fiasco, Ballmer has missed every big new tech market of the past decade. Google won the race for Internet search and keyword advertising. Apple won in MP3 players and online music sales, and now holds the high ground in mobile phones, while Windows Mobile fades away. Microsoft's Zune music player is a dud. Bing, Microsoft's search engine, will never catch Google. Ballmer is said to be a brilliant guy, but he got a black eye for the way he blundered and blustered and finally botched an attempted acquisition of Yahoo.

What's in Ballmer's favor is a mild stock rally this fall. Microsoft hopes the well-reviewed Windows 7 will erase the Windows Vista fiasco, and that Bing will gain significant share if Microsoft and Yahoo can leverage a partnership deal in which Bing will be the search engine for all Yahoo sites.

The iPhone knock has been echoed across the industry. Windows Mobile 6.5 was panned, and Ballmer has long said the company is not interested in building smartphone hardware as Apple has and Google plans to.