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Sometimes we think we need to find something totally revolutionary to develop the ‘killer app.’ – That may not be the case.

It is much more an issue of being at the cross roads of the user and the product, service or technology where we can bring or extend what we have to solve a specific problem better.

Two examples I would give include:

1) Google – most of us forget there were search engines before Google (remember yahoo, Alta vista, ask jeeves etc.) The founders came up with an algorithm (most relevant back links) to give better search results. In designing the solution Google was not looking to steal “yahoo customers”. Their solution was to solve a problem that yahoo and most others did not address that well. Google has since revised their algorithm to make the results even more relevant and to bypass the fake search engine optimization tricks.

2) IPod – the IPod classic was a single platter hard drive of 5GB or 10GB so you could store 1000s of audio clips. It eliminated the problem of storing and shuffling MP3s from your hard drive to the MP3 player. After the basic break through there were additional improvements and expansions on the idea. The IPod classic has had six major releases and 1 or 2 minor releases within each major release over the course of nine years.

So what does that mean for us?

This means that we can take our understanding of our solutions (our product) and shape them so that we can solve our client’s problem better AND the initial implementation does not have to be perfect. Our niche would probably not be in doing something completely different – with 100 to 250+ products, services or companies in any market segment most angles would be covered; however, there may not be any one dominant player. So there is still an opportunity to do the job better. Doing the job better might just be the “free prize inside” of the cereal box. Everyone in the market could do the job – so the differentiating factor in our product or service is something on the edge of what is delivered. It could be a client portal, it could be extra training and seminars, or it could be an extra “bonus” service that we take for granted.

The ‘killer app’ is not a fugitive – it is in our midst in disguise!
Our mission, from an administrative and marketing perspective, is to unmask that ‘killer app.’

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