Abstract

There are certain features that distinguish killer apps from other ordinary applications. This chapter examines those features in the context of the Semantic Web, in the hope that a better understanding of the characteristics of killer apps might encourage their consideration when developing Semantic Web applications. Killer apps are highly transformative technologies that create new e-Commerce venues and widespread patterns of behaviour. Information Technology generally, and the Web in particular, has benefited from killer apps to create new networks of users and increase its value. The Semantic Web community on the other hand is still awaiting a killer app that proves the superiority of its technologies. The authors hope that this chapter will help to highlight some of the common ingredients of killer app in e-Commerce, and discuss how such applications might emerge in the Semantic Web.