Trivergence: The Internet of Everything

I've been talking about "digital divergence" lately (the counter-revolution to the debunked digital convergence that never happened; see here for more). Turns out that I was too little and too late, because Andy Zimmerman of Accenture proclaimed the TRIvergence 4 years ago.

Trivergence is the connected world of devices everywhere, some of which have no direct user interface. It's a smart TV, controlled by an iPhone, streaming video from Netflix. It's a fleet of GPS embedded vehicles, monitored from a PC (or, again, an iPhone), streaming route data to a server somewhere. Trivergence is the separation of 1) network of processing power/storage, 2) user interface/control, and 3) disparate devices.

As "trivergent" applications and devices continue to propagate into everything you see/touch, the question is who will control them? Is it Google, aggregating control into a web portal, maybe built around something like their App Engine? Is it Apple with a proprietary suite of devices and software? Is it Verizon, who already controls the network that brings you voice, video, internet, and wireless?

Or maybe what's more interesting is who doesn't have control: Intel and Microsoft. Trivergence completely removes dependence on Windows and x86.