We are getting to the point where you and I can take for granted that our content, context and conversations are perpetually and autonomously synced across all of our devices.
Today, this means Photos, Contacts and Calendar. In many cases, it extends to Songs, Mail, File Sharing, Text Messages, Apps, eBooks, Maps and To-Do Lists.
The systems that drive such syncronizations are part Client and Cloud.
At some point, we will build meta-platforms and marketplaces on top of this layer that give rise to entirely new categories of applications.
Owing to the rich strata that such systems will be able to mine and refine, the applications that emerge during this wave will for the first time, be built around Me, My Interests, My Content, My Recurring Workflows and My Extended Networks.
Phase one (happening now) is the emergence of these 'Perpetually Synced Services' as a utility that is every bit as reliable, boring and invisble as electricity.
Phase two is the rise of new vehicles that harness this utility.
My bet is that such systems will be built upon the backs of smarter messaging systems, a bit like the example of WeChat, where consumers can hail a taxi and pay for it while chatting with friends.
Every time you ride an Uber, and appreciate the seamless, almost magical, nature of that experience, or delight in the elegant simplicty of Dropbox, know that you are staring squarely into the future.
It's a fractal of a greater truth yet to be revealed.
Related:
- The Mobile Native Cloud - An Extensible Model for the Post PC Era
- How Uber is like Southwest Air - The Art of Reinventing an Industry
