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What killer app did laptops have that made them the success they are today? Does new technology necessarily need a killer app if the ergonomics end up being mor

What killer app did laptops have that made them the success they are today? Does new technology necessarily need a killer app if the ergonomics end up being more desirable to a broad range of users? I don't necessarily know the answer here, but my gut feeling is that defining this device based on a "killer app" is like trying to define the original iPhone as needing a "killer app". It didn't necessarily have such a thing but it did end up being pretty big.

stevenwliao 3y ago
Laptops' killer apps are arguably Word, web browsers, and Photoshop.
- jayd16 3y ago
  An MR 3d sculpting app like Maya or ZBrush would be pretty sweet. Not sure it's as killer as Photoshop but id be excited none the less.
m4rtink 3y ago
Spreadsheets and word processors.
- jryle70 3y ago
  Not when the first laptop came out. Imagine lugging around a heavy piece of computer, with crammed keyboard and not so nice monitor. Why should one be subjected to such a subpar experience?
  - p_l 3y ago
    By the time laptop form factor became somewhat common, yes, it was spreadsheets, word processing, and a communication suite (mail, file transfer, etc). Those were the critical features that fueled laptops for several years, taking money from people who found a reason to work on the go. It was a considerable jump up from super tiny (but still used!) computers like Epson HX-20 or super heavy (luggables). The people using them for spreadsheets and word processing joined the field engineering and military applications. Hell, laptops stopped being synonymous with "business executive" in popular vernacular only after 2000s.
  - projektfu 3y ago
    I had a Toshiba T1x00 in my house (probably a T1000) and I can confirm it was able to do Lotus 1-2-3 and WordStar. Games were strange on the wide screen, and its other killer app was as a serial terminal. The TRS-80 model 100, an earlier laptop, found a killer app as a word processor and communication device for reporters. Some were still using them into the late 90s. And the ones that didn't really have killer apps are from a litany of defunct companies/model lines like GRiD.
PostOnce 3y ago
That's a good point. Those form factors were massive improvements in portability and accessibility, without necessarily having a killer app compared to its predecessor (laptop not doing anything a desktop didn't do, iphone didn't do much new at first but now has translator apps and GPS and stuff) The headset, though, seems clunkier (awkward non-flat shape, has cables, no keyboard) and you trade that off for... a bigger, 3D screen that shows you mostly the same thing. I could be wrong, but it feels like an expensive regression in portability. If it has no killer app and isn't a revolutionary form factor in terms of portability and ease of access, can it win? Maybe it's easier to access than I'm imagining. Maybe I'm wrong. We'll have to wait and see, I guess.
- p_l 3y ago
  Laptops had killer apps in word processing and spreadsheets and various early email systems, bringing them clients other than field engineering and military.
  - King-Aaron 3y ago
    These applications already existed for desktops, this was not something unique to the laptop form factor.
    - p_l 3y ago
      But laptop made it possible for the executive, reporter, etc. to work on the go much better than with previous (luggables) or not at all, and the ensuing combination was the killer app.
hdctambien 3y ago
The iphone was full of killer apps at release. The Maps app was so much better than printing MapQuest maps or trying to use the flip phone version of MapQuest. Being able to access the real internet from anywhere was futuristic. You could use iMessage without paying $0.10 per text?!?! Can you even imagine paying $0.10 per text (and $0.25 for every text after the first 100 per month?) Visual voice mail was also a game changer at the time. And you got an ipod along with all that. (The iphone was my first "big" ipod device)
- madeofpalk 3y ago
  (For what it's worth, iMessage didn't come until 4 years later in iOS 4)
- xorcist 3y ago
  The built in apps of the iphone were more of a technology demonstration than anything else. They few that existed were also kind of useless because the iphone didn't have mobile data other than glacial slow GSM until the iphone 3G. This new headset also looks like a technology demonstration. That doesn't mean it will become the next iphone, but it certainly has potential.
  - p_l 3y ago
    iPhone severely depended on how shitty US networks were in general, and honestly if MS didn't bumble things with WP7 I'm not sure it would get that popular that fast.
himinlomax 3y ago
> What killer app did laptops have that made them the success they are today? Very literally Excel, for business users. That's what most laptop users were running in the 90s. Then Word for personal use, typically students writing their thesis/homework.
- p_l 3y ago
  Arguably word processing combined with some method to transfer files (especially modems) was first, with spreadsheets coming second. But yes, 1990s the laptop was business executive tool and status symbol.
mrguyorama 3y ago
The killer app of laptops is portability. That killer app was so damn powerful it worked even when laptops were called "luggables" because they were fifty pounds and you couldn't use them without a power outlet. The original iPhone's killer app was an affordable data plan. At the time, data was stupid expense, priced almost as a velben good. But by 2007, AT&T launched a $60 unlimited data plan for their iPhones. Feature phones have been using the web since the turn of the millennium, but nobody could afford it. Nobody bought the smart phones that existed because nobody could afford it. The Motorola Sidekiq was an unattainable toy for most families, but that unlimited data plan suddenly made smart phones viable to most of the population. For reference, that plan with unlimited data still had a limited number of calling minutes and texts per month!

stevenwliao 3y ago

Laptops' killer apps are arguably Word, web browsers, and Photoshop.

jayd16 3y ago
An MR 3d sculpting app like Maya or ZBrush would be pretty sweet. Not sure it's as killer as Photoshop but id be excited none the less.

m4rtink 3y ago

Spreadsheets and word processors.

jryle70 3y ago
Not when the first laptop came out. Imagine lugging around a heavy piece of computer, with crammed keyboard and not so nice monitor. Why should one be subjected to such a subpar experience?
- p_l 3y ago
  By the time laptop form factor became somewhat common, yes, it was spreadsheets, word processing, and a communication suite (mail, file transfer, etc). Those were the critical features that fueled laptops for several years, taking money from people who found a reason to work on the go. It was a considerable jump up from super tiny (but still used!) computers like Epson HX-20 or super heavy (luggables). The people using them for spreadsheets and word processing joined the field engineering and military applications. Hell, laptops stopped being synonymous with "business executive" in popular vernacular only after 2000s.
- projektfu 3y ago
  I had a Toshiba T1x00 in my house (probably a T1000) and I can confirm it was able to do Lotus 1-2-3 and WordStar. Games were strange on the wide screen, and its other killer app was as a serial terminal. The TRS-80 model 100, an earlier laptop, found a killer app as a word processor and communication device for reporters. Some were still using them into the late 90s. And the ones that didn't really have killer apps are from a litany of defunct companies/model lines like GRiD.

PostOnce 3y ago

That's a good point. Those form factors were massive improvements in portability and accessibility, without necessarily having a killer app compared to its predecessor (laptop not doing anything a desktop didn't do, iphone didn't do much new at first but now has translator apps and GPS and stuff) The headset, though, seems clunkier (awkward non-flat shape, has cables, no keyboard) and you trade that off for... a bigger, 3D screen that shows you mostly the same thing. I could be wrong, but it feels like an expensive regression in portability. If it has no killer app and isn't a revolutionary form factor in terms of portability and ease of access, can it win? Maybe it's easier to access than I'm imagining. Maybe I'm wrong. We'll have to wait and see, I guess.

p_l 3y ago
Laptops had killer apps in word processing and spreadsheets and various early email systems, bringing them clients other than field engineering and military.
- King-Aaron 3y ago
  These applications already existed for desktops, this was not something unique to the laptop form factor.
  - p_l 3y ago
    But laptop made it possible for the executive, reporter, etc. to work on the go much better than with previous (luggables) or not at all, and the ensuing combination was the killer app.

hdctambien 3y ago

The iphone was full of killer apps at release. The Maps app was so much better than printing MapQuest maps or trying to use the flip phone version of MapQuest. Being able to access the real internet from anywhere was futuristic. You could use iMessage without paying $0.10 per text?!?! Can you even imagine paying $0.10 per text (and $0.25 for every text after the first 100 per month?) Visual voice mail was also a game changer at the time. And you got an ipod along with all that. (The iphone was my first "big" ipod device)

madeofpalk 3y ago
(For what it's worth, iMessage didn't come until 4 years later in iOS 4)
xorcist 3y ago
The built in apps of the iphone were more of a technology demonstration than anything else. They few that existed were also kind of useless because the iphone didn't have mobile data other than glacial slow GSM until the iphone 3G. This new headset also looks like a technology demonstration. That doesn't mean it will become the next iphone, but it certainly has potential.
- p_l 3y ago
  iPhone severely depended on how shitty US networks were in general, and honestly if MS didn't bumble things with WP7 I'm not sure it would get that popular that fast.

himinlomax 3y ago

> What killer app did laptops have that made them the success they are today? Very literally Excel, for business users. That's what most laptop users were running in the 90s. Then Word for personal use, typically students writing their thesis/homework.

p_l 3y ago
Arguably word processing combined with some method to transfer files (especially modems) was first, with spreadsheets coming second. But yes, 1990s the laptop was business executive tool and status symbol.

mrguyorama 3y ago

The killer app of laptops is portability. That killer app was so damn powerful it worked even when laptops were called "luggables" because they were fifty pounds and you couldn't use them without a power outlet. The original iPhone's killer app was an affordable data plan. At the time, data was stupid expense, priced almost as a velben good. But by 2007, AT&T launched a $60 unlimited data plan for their iPhones. Feature phones have been using the web since the turn of the millennium, but nobody could afford it. Nobody bought the smart phones that existed because nobody could afford it. The Motorola Sidekiq was an unattainable toy for most families, but that unlimited data plan suddenly made smart phones viable to most of the population. For reference, that plan with unlimited data still had a limited number of calling minutes and texts per month!