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Comment by janjan | Hacker News Reader

It might be a stupid question, but: Is there an example of a hyped "whatever killer" that actually killed "whatever"? I have the feeling that all those Google, Facebook, Microsoft, iPad/iPad/iPhone killer that sensationalist journalists tend to write about are forgotten after half a year or so.

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I'm sure somebody called Facebook a Myspace-killer at some point. But I'm not sure if facebook actually killed myspace, or if it is committing suicide.

PNG was supposed to be the "GIF killer", and sort of succeeded, though pretty slowly.

When did all this whatever-Killer stuff start anyway? I'm not sure I've heard it in any other context than Apple's portable products e.g. iMac-killer, Wii-Killer, netbook-killer, Windows-killer, IE-killer, Ubuntu-killer, x86-killer or whatever don't seem to ring true to me even if they've dominated mindshare (in various markets, for various lengths of time). In general, why would you want to "kill" them, rather than say outsell them or offer better specs at a lower price? Seems very wierd and macho. Do any actual company representatives use this language, or is it just gadget blogs?

This is the oldest entry a quick google returns, was he copying an earlier snowclone?

"Creative unveils potential iPod killer"

http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2002/10/1152.ars

To add further confusion, I wouldn't assume that a Register headline to be without snark, and similarly I've lately seen iPad-killer used as a sarcastic insult, with the implicit assumption that it will fail.

Sprint most definitely marketed the Instinct as an "iPhone killer", those were the words that appeared in the commercial. ARM chips are sometimes referred to as x86 killers.

Outselling implies that you are simply different. Killing implies that you have redefined the market by your awesomeness.

"X killer" goes as far back as the PC revolution, at least.

Google finds examples of Digital Research's GEM window environment being hailed as the Mac killer. This was back in 1985.

Searching for "IBM killer" finds references to the Digital VAX 9000, a failed minicomputer model that tried to beat IBM mainframes at their game.

Every time I see a headline like that, I can safely assume that the product or service to be killed will not only survive, but thrive.

From what I understand, X-killer is just another vapid advertising expression. So far I haven't seen any X-killer kill.

I'm pretty sure IE was hyped as a Netscape killer... which is what it ultimately, sadly, did.

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