Google just announce a new project called Wave. It is essentially the new email. Real time communication, collaboration and much more. This isn’t just a new service that Google is offering, its essentially a new open communication protocol and framework. Just as Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and Apple are email providers, they can also be Wave providers.
This video is very long and a little painful to watch, but I really think this is going to finally make email obsolete, among many other communication protocols.