And just when you thought things had finally settled down, everything – and I mean everything – is changing once again. That’s at least the view of Roger McNamee, the co-founder and Managing Partner of Elevation Partners, who believes that HTML5 is a “sudden dramatic disruption” that will fundamentally revolutionize the entire online consumer space. Riffing off Chris Anderson’s idea about the death of the web, McNamee thinks that in 3 or 4 years time, we will have HTML5 companies that will be creating consumer apps that none of us can even imagine today.
I caught up with McNamee yesterday at the excellent Techonomy conference where he conducted a really memorable conversation with the great Lyle Lovett. And, as always, Roger didn’t mince his words. Arguing that Android is a “science project” and “reactionary”, he suggested that the closed Apple model is what consumers prefer and that it is the iPhone app economy that has created the necessary conditions for the imminent HTLM5 revolution. Fighting words, indeed, from a guy who once rolled all his dice on Palm eating the iPhone for breakfast.
This is the first interview of two I conducted with McNamee at Techonomy. The second, which I’ll broadcast tomorrow, covers his views on Occupy Wall Street and is classic McNamee – both outrageously wise and wisely outrageous.