Duh. Click around Google after being in Google+. Your full account loads into the interface, it's very apparent that Google+ is the "next version of Google". I assume that eventually the "+" moniker will be dropped and it will simply be "Share with your Google Circle", etc. They say they're integrating it into their products... I think it's the other way around.

Look at how Gmail contacts are treated in Google+, they're relegated to a stopgap. Look at the privacy settings for various fields in your profile - they default to sharing with your Gmail Contacts and once you chose a circle, you never have any context of Gmail Contacts anymore.

I love unification and data aggregation, especially with Google's Data Liberation efforts and the export they already have for taking your social data (potentially elsewhere).