Acceptable registrations in the queue through March 16 at 11:00a ET have now been activated. Enjoy! -M.W.

Terms of Use have been amended effective October 6, 2019. Make sure you are aware of the new rules! Please visit this thread for details: https://www.mibuzzboard.com/phpBB3/view ... 16&t=48619

Biggest tech device flops of the past 25 years!!!

The place to chat about audio/video devices & software, mobile phones & mobile plans, computer hardware & software, and other electronic gadgets.
User avatar
MWmetalhead
Site Admin
Posts: 11872
Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2004 11:23 am

Biggest tech device flops of the past 25 years!!!

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat Jun 06, 2020 9:36 am

My contenders:

- HD DVD: Ultimately was "crowded out" by Blu Ray

- Mini Disc: An abortion developed by Sony. Yeah, great idea. Make a disc player that is completely incompatible with consumers' existing (full size) CD collections.

- HD Radio: In the home device sales have been disastrous since day one, no effort was made to incorporate the technology into standard AM/FM receivers manufactured by Yamaha, Denon, Sony, Onkyo, Pioneer, and others, and less than 10 percent of consumers who actually have HD radio head-ends in their automobiles spend even one iota of time with an HD-only radio station over the course of an entire week.

- 3D HDTV: Remember when Best Buy and others were schlepping this stupid concept in the early 2010's? I think Comcast had two or three 3D channels in its lineup for about 15 minutes; one was ESPN. The technology fizzled quickly and quietly.

- Windows Phone: This debacle + Windows 8 put Microsoft in serious turmoil. Too few compatible third party apps. Many "apps" were nothing more than links to web sites. Microsoft also exerted tight control over all aspects of hardware and user experience, which annoyed the manufacturers with whom it initially partnered. The manufacturers felt Microsoft's mandates and licensing fees were eating into their profit margin. Android did a much better job cultivating relationships with third party manufacturers and with app developers, causing these constituencies to tell Microsoft, "See ya. Don't let the door hit ya in the ass on the way out!"

- Windows 8: The Metro UI, hidden edge screen menus, pathetically feature light native email app, and focus on touch vs. mouse input added up to one gigantic clusterfuck. The functionality of Windows 8 was particularly miserable for business users, the vast majority of whom wisely steered clear of Windows 8.

- Windows Vista: At least most folks remember Windows 8, and at least it survived on store shelves for several years, but my God, Windows Vista was arguably a bigger flop than Windows 8! From what I've read, Vista caused gigantic software & system issues. Crashes and loss of internet connectivity were commonplace.

- Galaxy Note 7 by Samsung : This phone was "on fire"...literally!!! The batteries would overheat and the phone would start smoldering. A certain model of Samsung washing machines were also known to explode when in the spin cycle around the same time period. NOT a good period for Samsung! These occurrences were very surprising, because until that point, Samsung's reputation for producing quality products was fairly strong.

- (Emerging nominee) Smart refrigerators: This is the most fucking stupid thing EVER. Who the fuck stands in front of their refrigerator all day?! Sorry, but I do not need a refrigerator that plays video, displays pictures, pops up emails & text messages, and allows me to interact with social media apps.

Would love to hear other nominees worthy of consideration that I may be overlooking!



User avatar
SolarMax
Posts: 702
Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2004 5:59 pm
Location: 313

Re: Biggest tech device flops of the past 25 years!!!

Post by SolarMax » Sat Jun 06, 2020 9:59 am

The Zune. Huh?
Apple Newton. (just outside the 25 yr boundary) Too little, too soon,



User avatar
Turkeytop
Posts: 8854
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:27 pm

Re: Biggest tech device flops of the past 25 years!!!

Post by Turkeytop » Sat Jun 06, 2020 1:26 pm

Streaming Radio

Microwave oven

Cellphone

Smart TV

Self checkout.


I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.

Deleted User 15342

Re: Biggest tech device flops of the past 25 years!!!

Post by Deleted User 15342 » Sat Jun 06, 2020 7:34 pm

Turkeytop wrote:
Sat Jun 06, 2020 1:26 pm
Streaming Radio

Microwave oven

Cellphone

Smart TV

Self checkout.
🤣 😝 😂 😆



User avatar
SolarMax
Posts: 702
Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2004 5:59 pm
Location: 313

Re: Biggest tech device flops of the past 25 years!!!

Post by SolarMax » Sat Jun 06, 2020 9:38 pm

Google Glass.

Digital Paper.

Segway.



Deleted User 15342

Re: Biggest tech device flops of the past 25 years!!!

Post by Deleted User 15342 » Sat Jun 06, 2020 9:56 pm

I don’t know if this counts but what about the short lived MP3 players and even though they sold millions the Apple iPod. I had them and used them not much, I think the old lady trash ours back in 2010. We’ve went to digital streaming after that.



User avatar
Turkeytop
Posts: 8854
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:27 pm

Re: Biggest tech device flops of the past 25 years!!!

Post by Turkeytop » Sat Jun 06, 2020 9:58 pm

Lucky615 wrote:
Sat Jun 06, 2020 9:56 pm
I don’t know if this counts but what about the short lived MP3 players and even though they sold millions the Apple iPod. I had them and used them not much I think the old lady trash ours back in 2010. We’ve went to digital streaming after that.
I have one of those. I can't even remember why.


I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.

Deleted User 15342

Re: Biggest tech device flops of the past 25 years!!!

Post by Deleted User 15342 » Sun Jun 07, 2020 1:24 pm

Here’s another one back in the 90’s there was Guide plus. I think the local tv books from the newspapers had codes for using this thing. Now I know this next one is beyond the 25 years but it was in the mid 80’s it was DAT digital audio tape they had DAT recorders and tapes, it was short lived because the record industry was afraid it would kill music sales because DAT produced a perfect recording.



User avatar
MWmetalhead
Site Admin
Posts: 11872
Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2004 11:23 am

Re: Biggest tech device flops of the past 25 years!!!

Post by MWmetalhead » Mon Jun 08, 2020 7:49 am

I very vaguely remember the Guide plus thing. I do indeed remember seeing codes in the weekly TV listings of my local newspaper!

Google Glass is a great nominee, SolarMax.



bmw
Posts: 6725
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2004 1:02 am

Re: Biggest tech device flops of the past 25 years!!!

Post by bmw » Mon Jun 08, 2020 11:01 pm

This one barely makes the 25-year cut, but the Nintendo Virtual Boy

Image

In 1997, there was Clippy - the super annoying Office tool who would pester you when trying to write Word documents.

Image

In 2003, there was FlexPlay - a DISPOSABLE DVD. Instead of renting a DVD, you just buy it, and upon opening it, once exposed to oxygen, the disc literally deteriorates to an unplayable state after a few days.

Image

The most current example on the verge of being a flop is Google Stadia - Google's cloud system for playing video games.

One a side-note, while I agree with the nomination of Sony's MiniDisc, I think it is a shame that these flopped. I invested in the technology in 1999 thinking it was going to be the next big thing, and I ended up using it for a good 5 years. I never purchased any albums this way, but I recorded a ton of music both from radio as well as analog transfer from my (then Napster) mp3 collection. Sound quality was excellent and the discs were much less prone to damage than conventional CD's. I had a home unit, a portable unit, and a car unit; the car unit could record straight from the radio while driving! Minidiscs were a few years too late to the party as portable mp3 players won that battle of the time.



User avatar
Turkeytop
Posts: 8854
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:27 pm

Re: Biggest tech device flops of the past 25 years!!!

Post by Turkeytop » Tue Jun 09, 2020 12:48 am

bmw wrote:
Mon Jun 08, 2020 11:01 pm

In 1997, there was Clippy - the super annoying Office tool who would pester you when trying to write Word documents.

Image

Hey. I liked that. At least it was company when I was alone in the office.


I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.

Deleted User 15342

Re: Biggest tech device flops of the past 25 years!!!

Post by Deleted User 15342 » Tue Jun 09, 2020 9:28 am

Turkeytop wrote:
Tue Jun 09, 2020 12:48 am
bmw wrote:
Mon Jun 08, 2020 11:01 pm

In 1997, there was Clippy - the super annoying Office tool who would pester you when trying to write Word documents.

Image

Hey. I liked that. At least it was company when I was alone in the office.
Okay 👌



Deleted User 15342

Re: Biggest tech device flops of the past 25 years!!!

Post by Deleted User 15342 » Tue Jun 09, 2020 9:36 am

The CD single what a waste they were priced at around $5 when you could get the entire album on disc on sale for around $10.



Deleted User 15342

Re: Biggest tech device flops of the past 25 years!!!

Post by Deleted User 15342 » Tue Jun 09, 2020 11:05 am

Lucky615 wrote:
Tue Jun 09, 2020 9:28 am
Turkeytop wrote:
Tue Jun 09, 2020 12:48 am
bmw wrote:
Mon Jun 08, 2020 11:01 pm

In 1997, there was Clippy - the super annoying Office tool who would pester you when trying to write Word documents.

Image

Hey. I liked that. At least it was company when I was alone in the office.
Okay 👌
Turkeytop just how much company was Clippy?



km1125
Posts: 3570
Joined: Thu Mar 14, 2019 3:09 pm

Re: Biggest tech device flops of the past 25 years!!!

Post by km1125 » Tue Jun 09, 2020 11:19 am

Lucky615 wrote:
Sun Jun 07, 2020 1:24 pm
Here’s another one back in the 90’s there was Guide plus. I think the local tv books from the newspapers had codes for using this thing. Now I know this next one is beyond the 25 years but it was in the mid 80’s it was DAT digital audio tape they had DAT recorders and tapes, it was short lived because the record industry was afraid it would kill music sales because DAT produced a perfect recording.
I still have one and the box it came in. Some VCRs had the function built-in but they weren't much better than the stand-alone device. After programming the device, you had to make sure to set it down so that the IR beam had a clear path to the VCR. We might have used it a couple times, but after that it went into a drawer.



Post Reply Previous topicNext topic