Even tech giants like Apple, Amazon or Nintendo sometimes fail, just like many other companies. “Multiple companies think they are working on a new device like the iPhone and while in some cases that may be true, in most it is not,” says Narek Vardanyan, CEO of Prelaunch. This company has taken advantage of CES, the largest electronics fair in the world, to exhibit some of the most massive and unexpected technological failures of the last decades.
A device just for tweeting
TwitterPeek was a device that only worked with one social network: Twitter. “Why have a ‘second phone’ just for tweeting? It’s like having a car that only drives to one place”, says Vardanyan, who assures that 80% of the products fail because there is no demand in the market. This device, developed by the company Peek and launched in 2009 for about 200 dollars (190 euros), was a failure because “the big users of Twitter already had phones capable of tweeting, so it really didn’t make sense to carry two devices on”. “TwitterPeek is so silly that my brain hurts,” said an expert from the Gizmodo technology portal.
A mask typical of a horror movie
The Rejuvenique company thought it was a good idea to launch a mask in 1999 that looks like something out of a horror movie. It was fitted to the head to try to tone the facial muscles through electrical stimulation and reduce wrinkles. “Even though the FDA [la agencia del medicamento en EE UU] declared that it was unsafe, a year later it went on the market ”, they say from Prelaunch. The end of it was as enigmatic as the mask itself: “It mysteriously disappeared.”
A console that dizzy
The Virtual Boy console, which aimed to exploit 3D graphics, became a headache for Nintendo. In addition to the fact that the 3D effect was not very successful, it generated strong dizziness in the players. From the Nintenderos portal, they point out that the size of the device did not help either: “What was initially planned as a portable console became a heavy and enormous console, which could not be moved.” Users had to lean forward while gaming, which also caused neck pain. Nintendo put the brakes on the production of this device in 1996, a year after its launch.
A car with ‘gull wings’
The DMC-12 Car, built between 1981 and 1982 by the DeLorean Motor Company, “had wings, but it didn’t fly.” This is what they say from Prelaunch: “It was a phenomenal car that failed due to mismanagement and the way it was marketed.” This car, remembered for its stellar appearance in Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985), stands out for its gull-wing doors and polished stainless steel bodywork. “If the Back to the Future movie had been released a few years earlier, it could have saved the car company,” they say from Prelaunch.
Not very portable speakers
Apple introduced iPod Hi-Fi in 2006 as a hi-fi speaker system for the iPod that redefined the concept of a home stereo. But, as Prelaunch explains, he abandoned it after just 18 months as it failed to meet his sales expectations. “Although it produced quality sound and was fairly well received at launch, it wasn’t as portable as the iPod, which undermined its portability,” the company states. To this is added that there were cheaper options on the market with better sound quality, as indicated by the Applesfera portal.
An uncomfortable ‘gaming’ mobile
In Nokia’s head, the N-Gage was a win-win (a winning strategy): a phone and a console at the same time. This device, launched in 2003, was one of the first bets in the mobile market to embrace portable consoles. But it ultimately failed “due to an implementation error,” according to Vardanyan. The company botched the design, creating “a product that was neither a comfortable phone nor a comfortable portable console.” Also, to change games, “people had to take the device apart.”
A controller with more than 80 buttons
Google TV Remote was an attempt to integrate television and the Internet. When it launched in 2012, the goal was to get the search giant into consumers’ living rooms. But what was expected to be a great success ended up failing. The Sony remote, which had over 80 separate buttons and controls, was difficult to use. “If you thought Google TV would make watching the Internet on your TV as simple as clicking a button, you were half right. It involves a button. Well, actually, 81″, reported The Guardian.
A mobile loaded with assumptions
Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, announced in 2014 the manufacture and sale of the Fire Phone to compete with Apple and Samsung. This mobile, which received negative reviews from the beginning, stopped being sold a year later. “Instead of conducting exhaustive research, Amazon made assumptions about what their customers cared about, how much they were willing to pay, and even the apps they wanted,” they say from Prelaunch. All of these assumptions “turned out to be incorrect, causing the phone to fail miserably.”
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Source: EL PAIS
