The journalist Paul Carr is referencing an earlier article where he talks about his misconception that email is dead. http://pandodaily.com/2012/10/17/yesterday-i-thought-email-w...
Even pg this week mentioned that email might not be the optimal tool and there might be a better tool to solve some of the problems (http://paulgraham.com/startupideas.html), and there is no shortage of email is dead posts and comments here on HN.