I've Seen The Future, And Its Name Is Sync. (Too Bad It'll Take So Long To Get Here.)

[Ted] I've seen the future, and its name is sync. The company that can synchronize everything in my little digital universe -- photos, songs, contacts, bookmarks, blog posts -- on my PC, phone, and any other device I happen to throw at you, will win my heart forever. After all, it frustrates me to tears that my Outlook contacts don't immediately show up on my phone or in my Gmail account. And that my high-alert emails don't come as text messages to my phone. And that my high-res phone photos remain trapped on my sweet RAZR V3c's tiny screen. I know that I'm not the only one -- Forrester's research shows that 53% of online consumers share photos via email and 15% of mobile phone owners send or receive emails on their phone.

Sure, I know I can find workarounds to all these frustrations -- if I'm willing to dedicate all my geekness and waking hours to it. But why doesn't sync just work? Why does the digital universe make me work so hard to do the things that feel natural? The answer is that nobody ever thought about sync, they just thought about standalone devices, applications, and services.

Maybe that's about to change. Today, two sync startups demoed at DEMO: Vizrea and Sharpcast. Both firms offer a photo synchronization service that let me get  pictures from my PC to my Phone to a Web Site and back again (oh, and a whole lot more, too -- check out their Web sites to get the details). To do this seemingly simple thing, both companies have invested heavily in synchronization servers and software. And therein lies both the problem and the opportunity.

It's an opportunity because a platform approach to synchronization addresses its biggest challenge: There is no single killer application; there's only my killer application. Some consumers want photo sync; others want contact sync; others want video sync, or email sync, or bookmark sync. The company that builds out and brings to market the best synchronization platform will win.

It's a problem because each kind of synchronization involves a different application, a different retail channel partner, and a different stakeholder. Mobile photo sync can be done with just a carrier and handset maker. Mobile email contacts sync needs an Outlook or Notes client, an email provider, and probably an enterprise IT executive to sign off. Dealing with all those different groups, one for each kind of synchronization will slow everything down.

Still, I have seen the future and it's name is sync. Now if I can just get Verizon Wireless and Motorola to step up and offer it . . .