Great post here by John Herman for BuzzFeed (@jwherrman). Email made more money than any other marketing channel when I was a Director of Ecommerce by a full ten points so its evolution is a CSF (Critical Success Factor) for e-commerce shops.

John's intelligent response to WHAT IS NEXT is worth a CAREFUL read for anyone who depends on email marketing to pay the bills. Do I think we are THERE yet (i.e. where John is), no but we are trending in that direction.

If John is a vanguard we Internet marketers need to form up around his ideas. What I would NEVER argue with is how the ubiquitous mobile web is changing email. We know many customers use mobile devices to curate their lives (and throw away non-interesting or poorly designed emails).

The problem with John's future is email is the list that protected the kingdom. Google doesn't own your email list as they do your organic and PPC destiny. How to continue to diversify your Internet marketing profits and portfolio is going to be a challenge.