Some good points as usual :)

Any savvy developer will develop an abstraction layer between the API they are consuming and their app. This allows devs to switch to an alternative provider down the line without having too many dependencies to deal with. It adds a little code bloat - but it pays off as your business needs (or that of the API provider) change.

The convergence is one of virtual and the real - rather then the online & offline.

New form factors are one important ingredient - phones & tablets where the capabilities (graphics, connectivity, location, etc) are good enough to allow a richer interaction.

Another is the evolution of the user - people have reached a point where they get it - there's no-longer a technology Berlin wall dividing the average user from the geeks.

The final part that's helped bring this about is a big mindset change.
Open Source & API's have gained enough momentum that the mashups, the inter-connectedness between systems, the openness of things like Android, LAMP - tips the balance of power from business to everyday people.

Open Source isn't now just about code being available to everybody - Open Source is how people feel about themselves. They, the source, are Open. They can chose their own connections, their interactions and how they express themselves to their peers and the world at large.

The cornerstones of this brave new world - Facebook, Google, Smartphones - no so much for what they obviously provide - but for what they provide that underpins what how we interact with the rest of the internet - oAuth, Social Graph, search, translation, etc

Manual update instructions here:http://bit.ly/9zoDEn
Updated my phone - simple & straightforward. Once it's updated it'll be sluggish for about 10 mins until the apps are optimised but it zips along after that :)

Once it's installed and you're happy - you'll probably want to push flash on it (it's not baked in by default) - you can find the info about it here: http.//bit.ly/c7XUjz

According to update 3 @http://bit.ly/9t1ycr it's only being rolled out to phones issued to the Press.

Can anybody else confirm the Froyo update? So far it appears that MG is the only one to receive it.

You'd be surprised I think. Three in the UK now bundles Skype on some of their devices.
It allows some of them to shift traffic from their strained 2G network onto the newer data backbones.

heh - I'd expect the Nexus to get it early on.
Don't they usually push out a new release in conjunction with the launch of new hardware?

Word on the grapevine is that they're waiting until they finish the rearchitect/deployment of their back-end infrastructure - but it's been 2 years as a pilot/limited rollout in the US.

Google really need to push G Voice out of the niche and into the world.