Killer app or line extension?

killer app: adj. short for killer application: The application that makes a mass market for a promising but underused technology. First used in the mid-1980s to describe Lotus 1-2-3’s impact on IBM PC adoption. Now a part of every Web business case, “(my product) is the killer app for (my industry).”
– Source: Jargon File on Dictionary.com

Online banking needs a killer app. Something with obvious user benefits that is super easy to use. Electronic bill presentment was expected to fill that role, but its rollout has been painfully slow. There are still more Beanie Babies auctioned on eBay each week (about 50,000), than bills presented and paid online.

Within the last few months, three killer app candidates have emerged. We don’t view any as being strong enough on their own to reach killer app status. But a company (not necessarily a bank) integrating all three could see market share grow exponentially. On Nov. 8, PayTrust became the first company to actually offer two of the three. A few days later, Intuit announced its plans to offer two of three on Quicken.com and AOL. But neither company has added the third, and perhaps most important virtual service, person-to-person (P2P) Internet payments
. P2P payments are powerful because they possess a unique “viral” marketing component. Whenever someone emails money, the recipient must register with the service to retrieve the funds, becoming a “customer,” whether they want to or not; a very powerful marketing tool.

The Class of 1999: New Virtual Banking Services

Source: Online Banking Report, 11/99