“Well, the Web 2.0 is a marketing term, and I think you’ve just invented Web 3.0″ - Eric Schmidt

At the Seoul Digital Forum recently, Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt was challenged to define the term Web 3.0, “given” everyone knew what the Web 2.0 is. While he got a few laughs for the initial response he provided (quoted above), he actually went on to present a very interesting and thoughtful description of what he sees it to be.

The short (2 minute) video can be found here. His prediction for how the Web 3.0 might play out focuses on a “different way to build applications”… and it sounds a lot like the next evolution of the mash ups concept Don and Anthony wrote about in the book. Key sound bites include “applications that are pieced together”… “applications that are relatively small”… “applications can run on any device”…”applications are distributed virally” (social networks, email)… and perhaps most interestingly:

“That’s a very different application model than we’ve ever seen in computing. Very different from the mainframe era, very different from the PC industry, and likely to be very, very large. There are low barriers to entry, the new generation of tools… make it relatively easy to do, solve a lot of problems, and work everywhere.”