[gfodor]

I agree with this article -- VR is so fundamentally compelling that even saying it needs a "killer app" seems to miss the point. Did TV or radio need a "killer app?" Certainly at the time there were major things TV or radio were applied towards that helped get them into the mainstream, but at the core TV and radio were inevitably going to spread throughout the world in some form.

[justincormack]

Radio's killer app was rock and roll. TVs was the soap opera.

[acheron]

Maybe we're defining "killer app" differently, but over 80% of US households had a radio in 1940, a decade prior to the start of rock and roll.

I think of "killer app" to be something that drives the adoption of the platform or whatever. "Why should I buy a PC? Oh, because Lotus 1-2-3 is awesome." Nobody was buying radios because they wanted to listen to rock and roll music; they all already had radios.

[ravitation]

Neither of these were "killer apps".

As has been noted for radio, 55% of American homes had TVs in 1954 (rising to 83% by 1958). This was an increase from 0.4% in 1948. During this time of rapid adoption, the most popular shows were primarily variety shows and eventually sitcoms (I Love Lucy).

Soap operas have been a staple of daytime television since the early 1950's, but have never even been close to the most popular. Therefore, it would be hard to call them a "killer app".

[getsat]

Is VR's virtual waifus? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6VN9FpOAtM