Platforms are dead - we just don't know it yet...

The iPhone has been through a major transformation over the past 5 years. Back in 2017, on the 10th anniversary of the original iPhone, Tim Cook remarked on how “the term ‘phone’ seems almost an anachronism these days”, as most usage was internet browsing and apps.

Switch back to present day 2022 and, from afar, the iPhone now looks like very much like its analogue predecessor – people are talking into it and having a conversation.

But it’s not Mum on the other end – it’s Siri AGI.

We used to go to Amazon.com for our books, Carsales.com to buy a car and Indeed.com to find a job. Now, we just have a chat with Siri AGI and she does all the hard work for us.

Platforms are now commodities: people with things to sell just look for the best technology platform to create and host their video or VRE (virtual reality experience), pay for some SEO (Siri Engagement Optimisation) and Siri AGI takes over from there.

As an example, last week I was looking for a new car. After a quick chat with Siri AGI, I found three resellers nearby with great offers. Siri AGI even ran the title check, arranged the vehicle inspection for me and found three great finance offers – no middleman was involved in any of this.

The old platforms lost their value once Siri AGI and the others (Alexa, Cortana and Google Assistant) became the first port-of-call for user interaction. Unlike humans, they don’t need to ‘go’ somewhere to find the right product or service – they go everywhere, straight to the source.

It was quite remarkable how quickly the old platforms fell away once the virtual personal assistants took off, but in hindsight it was inevitable. Just like the department store of old, once there was a better way to access a wider variety of offerings, the old platforms just lost their relevance.

Who knows where iPhone 11 will take us next...?