Emails are going no where my friend. Yes , you probably heard the same thing about letters, landlines and pagers but take a moment to hear me out.
The reason why all of the above have reached a level of extinction is because they were replaced by more convenient alternatives. Cell phones and subsequently smartphones brought about the death of landlines and pagers while letters were replaced by Emails and IM’s. They provided a better alternative to the existing tech and people jumped ship without giving it a second thought.
Reasons why Email won’t follow the dinosaur
Easy , free , decentralized and more importantly it has become a standard for communication.
For anything to be wiped out there should either be a better alternative present or it should have a flaw that makes it undesirable. Email doesn’t have both. There is no structured , globalized form of communication that can replace Email yet. Spam and Junk Email have made an ugly impression but nothing drastic that can’t be solved by creating a few folders in your inbox and installing a spam filter. So no strong deterrent present.
Another reason why Email is here to stay is its professional use. There is no better form of communication than email for offices all over the world. It is flexible , can be used for both the professional and personal front. Moreover it has had a seamless transition to the mobile platform. With more and more business being conducted on smartphones , its easy transition to the platform is a definite advantage.
Instead of being replaced I think that Email would evolve to inculcate features to support new functionalities and innovations such as
- AI Bots - already being used by IMs. Can be used to reply and catalog routine mails .
- Tools - could have any function like making monthly payment.
Until we perfect a free holographic 3D standardized mode of communication, there is no way that I’m buying into any start up that says they have found an alternative.