From Search to Solution :
My 2010 Prediction Meets Today’s “Digital Front Door” Battle
In 2010 I wrote about what the internet would become in 25 years:
“I am acutely conscious that in another 25 years, no one will
search for ‘INFORMATION’ on Google-Yahoo-MSN etc
They will enter their current/expected ‘problem’ in a hand-helddevice and receive
readymade ‘solution/answer/advice’ in milliseconds!
See the original blog: “Time Travel – The Shape of Internet to Come”
Fast-forward to November 2025: Jaspreet Bindra’s article “Race to control the next
era of the internet: The fight for your digital front door has begun” (published in
The Economic Times) explains that we are indeed moving from the browser-
search era into a new phase where tech-platforms fight to control the “digital front
door” — the point of entry for your digital life. The Economic Times+1
🔍 Why this matters
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In the “old era”, we opened a browser and typed what we were looking for.
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In the “next phase”, as Bindra observes, our devices, apps, smart assistants
will anticipate our intent, guide us seamlessly, and deliver solutions without
us having to sift through results. The Economic Times
-
That is exactly what I predicted:
no more generic search for “information”;
rather, entering a problem or goal and receiving an actionable answer or
solution in milliseconds.
-
Contesting who controls that front door means controlling how we get
solutions — which apps, assistants, services, ecosystems. That’s powerful.
✅ Bridging Prediction & Today
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My 2010 forecast anticipated the shift from search → solution, from user-
seeking to device/AI assisting.
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Bindra’s article confirms we are in the battle for the gateway: whoever
dominates your entry point can shape what you see, do, and how you think.
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Together, they show a continuum: from what will happen (my prediction) to
what is happening (today’s digital front door race).
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This reinforces: the interface of our digital life matters enormously — it’s not
just what we access, but how we access it.
🚀 Implications for You & Me
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Devices will become smarter at interpreting intent: “I want to solve X”
instead of “Search for keyword Y”.
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Our data, context, interface will shift: apps/assistants will front-load delivery
vs. us fetching manually.
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Businesses and platforms will fight harder to be your “first touch” — the front
door through which you enter digital services.
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Regulation, privacy, choice become more important than ever: if your front
door is closed or monopolised, alternatives shrink.
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For innovators:
focus on problems people face and design zero-friction
solutions, not just better search boxes.
🔮 Next Steps & What to Watch
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Watch how mobile assistants evolve: from reactive (“What’s the weather?”) to
proactive (“It will rain tomorrow, here’s how to adjust your schedule”).
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Monitor platforms’ move to create ecosystems that make you rely on their
front door — bundles of hardware, software, services.
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Pay attention to how regulation starts addressing this “gateway” power:
which companies dominate, how data is shared, how competition is
maintained.
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For India: plenty of opportunity to build the front door for large populations —
language, local context, affordable devices matter.
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As I noted in my prediction blog, we must prepare for a world where solutions
are delivered, not just information offered.
✏️ Closing Thought
Fifteen years ago I wrote of a future where the search bar fades and the solution-
stream begins.
Today we see that shift in motion — platforms vying to own your
digital front door, and users gradually moving from searching to receiving.
The question is:
will you control the front door, or will the front door control you?
—
Hemen Parekh
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