About the most exciting thing in the traditional asset management world in recent years has been the rise of exchange-traded funds. If these refreshing investment products are truly to become a mass market phenomena, 2007 may be remembered as the year it really started. Is this likely? Well, I am a bit skeptical. They will become more accepted by advisors perhaps, but the masses? There are minor reasons to hope, notably the potential growth of commission-free trading. Still, the products with the most appeal are the ones tied to the big indexes; they have been around awhile. They will grow but perhaps at a slower rate. The innovations we've seen have been very niche oriented. The new coupled oil future ETFs from Claymore Securities and MacroMarkets are neat, but the market is likely limited. That said, it is precisely in times like this that a new start-up comes along with something dazzling. The market is ripe.