Reading an article about how Google managed to create a web application (Gmail) that runs just as well as desktop applications, made me think about the possibilities of a trully connected future.

Imagine a future without regular paper, it's replaced by digital paper that we use to read interactive and dynamic newspapers, browse the "web" (actually, just browse, since the "web" is omnipresent), use to write notes, read books and even communicate with others.

All other forms of paper, including printed publications, are no longer needed. We "download" the latest issue of our favorite newspaper in the morning, pay for it with our e-wallet, "read" it (even listed to it and watch it) and then archive its contents for easy search&retrieve later.

When we find content we are deeply interested in we immediately do a search to find related stories in other newspapers or somewhere else. The newspaper itself is of course dynamically generated, based on our preferences.

None of the content is actually stored on our "computers", it's all "online".

It really doesn't matter whether the medium of consumption is actually digital paper. For all I know it could be a handheld device that projects content on some surface or even in the air.

Try to think about implications this might have on the way we market. Since this is a digital world, everything is tailored to the consumer and is on-demand.

Sounds like a very far off future?

Not neccessarily ...

Remember Google's breakthrough?

If web applications run just as fast as desktop application, if all the data processing actually happens on the server and no longer on the client, if computer storage suddenly becomes a commodity, and if online is everywhere, there is almost no more need for expensive desktop or laptop computers.

Just replace my digital paper idea with a very cheap tablet PC you carry around everywhere you go. And because it's dirt cheap, everyone owns one, so more and more of the world is constantly "online". Actually, they don't even realize they're online, because being online becomes an integral part of our daily experience.

This, however, is only one possible scenario. We still haven't even touched iTV and other technologies, such as mobile integration and such.

But they all have something very important in common: they are on-demand and the consumer is in control. What happens to marketing in such a world?