Chapter 16 — Killer Features

Product marketing sets Positioning: the narrative that tells the market why product differentiation matters. The launch event makes that narrative concrete: a live demonstration, a crowd, a moment of proof. The unboxing brings it into the buyer’s hands – tactile, sensory, personal.

But some promises carry more weight than others. A thinner bezel or a faster charge time confirms the category. A capability that changes what the category means – that forces every competitor to rethink their roadmap – is something else entirely. That is the killer feature. The software industry calls it a "killer app" – a term that surfaced in the early 1980s when technology circles spoke of VisiCalc, the spreadsheet program that became the single sufficient reason for businesses to buy the Apple II. It was the first serious business application that made a long stride toward democratizing computer use.