Technology is tough to create and even tougher to predict. What may seem like a breakthrough product today, may end up being a nightmarish mistake.
Amazon’s Fire phone is a case in point. Launched with much fanfare in July this year, the phone failed to strike a chord with buyers and the company recently took a $170 million charge related to the write-down of costs associated with the smartphone.
However, Amazon is not the only company to have launched a product that failed to enthuse buyers. From Microsoft to Apple and Google to Nintendo, every company has witnessed such low moments in their product history. With big hits, these companies have also delivered some misses.
Here are 8 of the biggest facepalms in tech history.
Amazon’s Fire phone is a case in point. Launched with much fanfare in July this year, the phone failed to strike a chord with buyers and the company recently took a $170 million charge related to the write-down of costs associated with the smartphone.
However, Amazon is not the only company to have launched a product that failed to enthuse buyers. From Microsoft to Apple and Google to Nintendo, every company has witnessed such low moments in their product history. With big hits, these companies have also delivered some misses.
Here are 8 of the biggest facepalms in tech history.
1. Nexus Q
Google does a lot right. Snatching up Android? Pretty solid. Developing amazing software and smartphone tools? Not too bad. Oh, and that search engine isn’t too bad either.
But, even the biggest companies can't escape the occasional tech blunders, and Nexus Q was exactly that. Announced in 2012, Google handed out this $300 digital media player known as Nexus Q to everyone attending the 2012 Google I/O conference.
After receiving abysmal feedback (primarily its price versus function disparity), Google pulled the device from its store and basically gave them out for free to whoever actually pre-ordered one. You got to hand it to Google, though. At least they know a bad thing when they see one. Let’s just hope Google Glass can avoid future iterations of this list.
But, even the biggest companies can't escape the occasional tech blunders, and Nexus Q was exactly that. Announced in 2012, Google handed out this $300 digital media player known as Nexus Q to everyone attending the 2012 Google I/O conference.
After receiving abysmal feedback (primarily its price versus function disparity), Google pulled the device from its store and basically gave them out for free to whoever actually pre-ordered one. You got to hand it to Google, though. At least they know a bad thing when they see one. Let’s just hope Google Glass can avoid future iterations of this list.
2. Microsoft Kin
The Microsoft Kin should always be at the top of the list when talking about failures in tech. The thing is it was a cool device, just priced wrongly.
via Captain Jack
via Captain Jack
3. Apple Lisa
The Lisa sucked, slow, over-designed, lacking not just the affordability but also the usability of the Mac. Even the Lisa's most advanced OS features that the Mac lacked, such as preemptive multitasking and protected memory, weren’t very useful on such a hobbled CPU.
via Randy Hill
via Randy Hill
4. Windows Vista
Windows Vista, which was essentially Windows 7 Beta without the Beta tag. Even after an extended beta period, this notoriously horrible OS was plagued with compatibility issues and was unforgivably slow.
There just wasn’t anything to love, and certainly nothing worth abandoning Windows XP for. Luckily, Windows 7 sorted out a lot of the mess Vista created.
via Sean F
There just wasn’t anything to love, and certainly nothing worth abandoning Windows XP for. Luckily, Windows 7 sorted out a lot of the mess Vista created.
via Sean F
5. Nintendo 64
Though I love N64, Nintendo's decision to stick with carts really blew their dominance in the industry, especially considering that they were dipping their foot in the optical media pool, working with Sony to develop a CD add-on for the SNES.
Once Nintendo pulled out of the project, the PlayStation was born. Way to shoot yourself in the foot.
via Ovy
Once Nintendo pulled out of the project, the PlayStation was born. Way to shoot yourself in the foot.
via Ovy
6. Alto
The single biggest blunder in Tech is Alto. Xerox PARC developed the first PC in 1973. They called it Alto. It had a mouse. It had a graphical UI.
Instead of licensing it, they let guys like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates look at it and walk away with ideas to be developed later. Xerox could have had a piece of every PC ever sold.
via DragonBreath
Instead of licensing it, they let guys like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates look at it and walk away with ideas to be developed later. Xerox could have had a piece of every PC ever sold.
via DragonBreath
7. Microsoft Bob
I wish I could say that Vista was the only operating system on this list, but Microsoft has a penchant for creating software that turns out to be a nightmare.
Microsoft Bob tried to weirdly reimagine the internet as a house with certain objects standing in for applications. Needless to say that didn't go well and neither did its offensively cute design. Also, the most hated font of all time, Comic Sans, was created for Microsoft Bob.
Microsoft Bob tried to weirdly reimagine the internet as a house with certain objects standing in for applications. Needless to say that didn't go well and neither did its offensively cute design. Also, the most hated font of all time, Comic Sans, was created for Microsoft Bob.
8. Netbooks
Those cheap little things were easy to carry, and thats about all they had going for them. They had pathetic hardware that could barely support Windows, which made every task one attempted intensely frustrating.
via Kafovofa
via Kafovofa
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