> Perhaps for nerds like us, who enjoy a bit of tinkering

Tinkering? Even today, people don’t need to understand software. They just need to be able to describe their problems and goals to create an app.

> I mean, are you envisioning that everyone would have their own custom messaging app, for example? Or email?

Well first I think there’s a good chance that most apps as we know them today won’t even exist, and most “apps” will be tool use on APIs. But even then, shopping apps, for example, could be so highly personalized that no two people have the same one.

> I mean, I think most people's demands for those things are all extremely homogenous.

They aren’t, as evidenced by the fact there are many dozens of popular messaging apps with millions of users. Despite the network effects for a messaging app to even be viable.

Also, I’m not talking one-off throwaway apps… these are living, breathing pieces of production-grade software users will mold to fit their needs and evolve with them for years.

I’m not sure what “totally fresh” means