The future for the MFP will be as an extension of the functionality of your desktop PC or server.
Essentially applications that run on your PC now will be available as solutions on your MFP.
Canon, Sharp and HP all have their own platform. Xerox have Extensible Interface Platform (EIP), based on HTML,
it can be written by anyone with HTML skillset. You effectively would be able to write your own applications that would sit
on your MFP's.