I agree with for ways of passively getting information - you have a facebook notification, you have a twitter mention, you have unusual spending on your bank account, etc. Being able to interact with those directly is a huge improvement in productivity and experience. We're seeing this a lot already. My MBP just alerted me via notification that I have updates to be installed. From the notification I selected "Remind me tomorrow". It used to be a huge window that would pop up, stop whatever I was doing, and force me to install or skip.

The author mentions Google Now a lot, but fails to mention that Google has been doing this for ages in Gmail. Every time there is a date / time mention, there's a place to instantly add it to your calendar from Gmail. Did you also know that if you have a flight confirmation in your Gmail, and you search "LAX" on Google Maps, when you tap the "LAX" pin there is your Flight Number, Time, Gate, etc?

However, I don't see how this is going to replace active interaction with apps. Where will I go to read all the twitter tweets or Facebook feed? I certainly don't want those as cards.

Will I just have a Chase place to go to deposit my checks rather than a Chase App that has everything? I'm cool with that - but then I just have a bunch of "places to go" / "jobs to do" rather than apps. It's still the same shit, just with a different name. Furthermore, what would motivate an app like that to restructure to cards and what benefit would that provide users? Apps thrive on inserting unnecessary (from the user's perspective) shit in their app to make money or promote something or do what they actually want you to do or whatever. ie: Mint has items (advertisements) that are shown to me as advice based on my spending habits. The service wouldn't exist without these, but I never look at them. Which leads me to...

So now the Mint card that lets me know my weekly budget breakdown or have unusual spending will also come with a bunch of shit I don't want, pushed to me in cards with the shit I do want from all the companies I want it from. Would the user be able to control exactly what cards are pushed from what company? Will apps get around this and still send you cards anyways, similar to how facebook gaming shit is somehow NEVER turned off. I have all notifications turned off on my phone for 90% of my apps. Gaming apps, chase app, mint app, etc. I don't want to see the shit they try to push to me. I simply want them there when I want them.

How would apps deal with sensitive information? Is Chase going to constantly push the balance of my accounts to my phone and let me deposit and transfer money from the card? Or will clicking "transfer money" from the Chase card require a login and then all the other required interactions for transferring said money? Apple's touch ID (they are letting apps access this now too) eliminates some issues with passwords but not all of them. Furthermore, the touch ID is also a hardware solution and implementing similar systems would require all phone manufactures to develop and integrate a fingerprint pad as good as Apple's. Even the low cost phones. Too bad Apple probably has a buttload of patents on the system and every piece of the system, meaning that (a) the other versions won't be as good/secure from a hardware perspective (b) the other versions will be forced to make unnecessary changes to the hardware and the software/interaction to avoid Apple patents, and (c) will probably start another expensive legal battle even if they do all this stuff.

So mainly....I think the road we're going down is just as expected. Increased interaction from notifications, increased integration between services (gmail + maps, etc), and apps still being around. I don't foresee a big transcendence moment where apps magically turn into cards. I think we'll see it change more and more to the notifications are a bigger part of what we spend our time doing on our phone, but apps will always be there - just like websites. The only people who need to start keeping this in mind are apps / websites that don't provide any substantial value as a standalone app / website - like NYTimes. They provide articles that are accessed from anywhere - no one goes to NYTimes.com to get articles. As long as the app is providing a place to get stuff done / pass time / whatever, then that app will exist.