killer application in marketing terminology a killer application commonly shortened to killer app is any computer program that is so necessary or desirable that it proves the core value of some larger technology such as computer hardware a gaming console software a programming language a software platform or an operating system examples visicalc the earliest generally agreedupon example of a killer application one of the first recognized examples of a killer application is generally agreed to be the visicalc spreadsheet for the apple ii series lotus 123 similarly benefited sales of the ibm pc and compatibles just as visicalc did for apple sales noting that computer purchasers did not want pc compatibility as much as compatibility with certain pc software infoworld suggested lets tell it like it is lets not say pc compatible or even msdos compatible instead lets say 123 compatible once the internet became more widely available to consumers email was seen as a killer app that drove people to purchase computers even though email is a genre of applications rather than a single app the unix operating system served as a killer application for the dec pdp11 minicomputer and vax11 minicomputer during roughly 19751985 many of the pdp11 and vax11 processors never ran decs operating systems rsts or vaxvms but instead they ran unix which was first licensed in 1975 to get a virtualmemory unix bsd 30 you had to purchase a vax11 computer many universities wanted a generalpurpose timesharing system that would meet the needs of students and researchers early versions of unix included free compilers for c fortran and pascal at the time offering even one free compiler was unprecedented from its inception unix could drive highquality typesetting equipment and later postscript printers using the nrofftroff typesetting language and this was also unprecedented for its time unix was the first operating system offered in sourcelicense form a university license cost only 10000 less than a pdp11 allowing it to run on an unlimited number of machines and allowing the machines to interface to any type of hardware because the unix io system was extensible usage the first recorded use of the term in print was 1988 in pc week 24 may 391 everybody has only one killer application the secretary has a word processor the manager has a spreadsheet the definition of killer app came up during bill gatess questioning in the united states v microsoft corp antitrust case bill gates had written an email in which he described internet explorer as a killer app in the questioning he said that the term meant a popular application and did not connote an application that would fuel sales of a larger product or one that would supplant its competition as the microsoft computer dictionary defined it selected applications for computer systems amigaos deluxe paint video toaster mac os microsoft powerpoint before 1990 risc os sibelius before 1998 video games the term has also been applied to computer and video games that cause consumers to buy a particular video game console or gaming hardware over a competing one by virtue of being exclusive to that platform such a game is also known in gaming parlance as a system seller examples of a video game killer applications are the first generally agreed example of a killer app in gaming is the 1980 atari vcs port of the arcade game space invaders which quadrupled sales of the then threeyearold console star raiders released in 1979 was considered to be the killer app for the atari 400800 computers the port of donkey kong was the killer app for the colecovision console in 1982 the video gaming website gametrailers considers the super mario bros games to be the killer app for nearly all nintendo home consoles tetris as the killer app for the game boy grand theft auto iii for the playstation 2 super smash bros melee for the nintendo gamecube and wii sports for the wii computer gaming world stated that the legend of zelda on the nintendo entertainment system phantasy star ii on the sega genesis and far east of eden for the nec turbografx16 were killer apps for their consoles john madden footballs popularity in 1990 helped the genesis gain market share against the super nintendo sonic the hedgehog released in 1991 was hailed as a killer app as it revived sales of the by then threeyearold genesis street fighter ii originally released for arcades in 1991 became a systemseller for the super nintendo when it was ported to the platform in 1992 myst and the 7th guest both released in 1993 drove adoption of cdrom drives for personal computers pokmon red and blue could be classified a killer app for the sevenyearold game boy as a craze evolved around the series in the late 1990s and it was only available on that platform pokmon gold and silver were released at the height of the pokmon craze alongside the game boy color and fueled the sales for the console all the way to the release of the game boy advance two years later super mario 64 goldeneye 007 and the legend of zelda ocarina of time could be considered killer apps for the nintendo 64 with super mario 64 being one of two launch titles for the console and the main factor behind the platforms initial success quake could be halo is considered to be the killer app for the xbox console bloodborne was known as the first killer app for the playstation 4 console shenmue was to be the sega dreamcasts killer app although suffered poor sales however the franchise has become a cult classic with hd remakes and a crowdfunded third instalment to be released the legend of zelda breath of the wild was considered a legitimate killer app as a launch title for the nintendo switch through the first month of availability the game outsold the console itself resulting in an attach rate of over 100 percent disruptive innovation killer feature 