I think Android 4.1 is finally something like the "agents" people have been envisioning for over a decade.
The possibilities on this are endless and currently Google is about the only company that is able to do it (from my point of view). Google knows my calendar, Google knows my contacts, Google knows pretty much everything I buy online (because they handle all my emails), Google knows about my travel plans (email again), Google know what I've been looking, where I've been (Latitude) and so on.
There could be also huge opportunities for money making in all this. One good question is should they keep all this just to themselves or would it be better to try to create an ecosystem for applications.
Let's the take travel plans as an example. It would be fairly easy for Google to mine my calendar and emails to figure out my travel plans. This would open up opportunities in offering me flight upgrades and other travel related services. Google could either try to use this information themselves, they could allow advertisers to use it, or they could expose it to 3rd party apps (of course with my consent). Keeping with the agent idea these things would be much more than just highly targeted ads. They could be direct offers, like "Say Yes Please, to upgrade your flight from Helsinki to Barcelona to business class for 150€".
The possibilities on this are endless and currently Google is about the only company that is able to do it (from my point of view). Google knows my calendar, Google knows my contacts, Google knows pretty much everything I buy online (because they handle all my emails), Google knows about my travel plans (email again), Google know what I've been looking, where I've been (Latitude) and so on.
There could be also huge opportunities for money making in all this. One good question is should they keep all this just to themselves or would it be better to try to create an ecosystem for applications.
Let's the take travel plans as an example. It would be fairly easy for Google to mine my calendar and emails to figure out my travel plans. This would open up opportunities in offering me flight upgrades and other travel related services. Google could either try to use this information themselves, they could allow advertisers to use it, or they could expose it to 3rd party apps (of course with my consent). Keeping with the agent idea these things would be much more than just highly targeted ads. They could be direct offers, like "Say Yes Please, to upgrade your flight from Helsinki to Barcelona to business class for 150€".