Natural Born ‘Killers’

Peter Kafka, AllThingsD, headline “As Amazon Preps Its Apple TV Killer, It Plays Nicely With Apple TV”:

Amazon is planning on going head to head with Apple TV later this fall.

But before that happens, it will work nicely with Apple TV: Amazon’s Instant Video app now supports AirPlay, which means you can stream old episodes of “The Good Wife” on your iPad, and fling them to your big screen.

What purpose does the word killer serve in that headline, other than to serve as shameless click bait? They’re purportedly releasing an Apple TV competitor.

Remember when the Kindle tablets were billed as “iPad killers”? Writers and editors should triple-check before using that word to mean competitor, lest they embarrass themselves.

★ Tuesday, 17 September 2013