What About Killer Apps?
It’s long been a tenet of high-tech that new products, services, or related offerings need a “killer app” to really cause people to desire them and ultimately buy them. A killer app, it’s thought, can make the difference between a niche product and a broad consumer offering.
A killer app is that thing that makes the new product so different from others, so compelling, as to make people need to have that product. For the old PC, it was VisiCalc – the first spreadsheet program that helped make the computer the staple of business that it is now. There have been a number of killer apps for the Internet as it’s moved through its various stages of development: email, web browsing, file sharing, etc.
So, when looking at the wireless digital picture frame market, the question quickly becomes, what will be the killer app for digital frames?
As things stand, there are a few options:
1. Photo sharing – The ability to share photos with friends and family around the country and the world, wirelessly, with the touch of just a few buttons is a pretty powerful feature and could spur sales.
2. Content feeds – As demonstrated by Ceiva’s content channels, the possibility of having your frame regularly updated with information that’s important to you is compelling. The better the content gets for the frames, the more likely it is that this will be a big driver.
3. Cost – It could be that this market is just waiting to explode when the price is right. The confluence of the popularity of digital cameras, generally high levels of bandwidth, and an increasingly networked business and leisure world could all come together to convince customers without the need for any other applications. Hitting the right price point could be all consumers are waiting for.
4. Video – As I’ll write about next week, in a post-YouTube entertainment space, another way to share videos could be compelling.
These are just the options that present themselves at this stage of the market’s development. The killer app may well be something unanticipated by most of the players in a market. That could well be the case with wireless digital picture frames. Time will tell.
Until then, readers, what other applications would you like to see wireless photo frames support?
What About, Wireless Photo Frame, Wireless Picture Frames
Digital Picture Frames, Wireless Photo Frame, wireless-picture-frames
