Personal Expertware of Redmond, Wash. sells a piece of software, Air Travel Manager, that supplies complete access to the on-line reservations services and effortless booking of flights. High commissions give way to a software-smartened appliance as ubiquitous as a toaster. Sony is scrambling to get into the PC business because it can see that's where many of its current markets are headed. The smarts are in the computer now. Television hardware is going the same way.
Computers already have better displays, and vastly more powerful capabilities within.
But inside the box will be the standard PC of the day. Being able to watch two games at once will be just another feature in that year's release of windows. When your team heads to the Super Bowl, the remote control will book you a plane ticket. As software advances, familiar businesses like banks, travel agents and such won't all wither and die. But they will consolidate and make a wrenching transition from specialty vendor of a differentiated product to massmarket vendor of a bland commodity.