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10 Apple Product Flops
- Thread starter xlii
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True. But I haven't had my morning wake up yet and that's all I could think of.I've seen pirates, great movie, not so great of a referance
Check out Alan Kay. A very interesting fellow.
Another good one is Jef Raskin.
That will get you started down the path...
No, I didn't say that the Alto was a commercial success. I just said it was the precursor to Apple's GUI, and that Apple shouldn't get credit for "inventing" it as they are often cited as doing.
I'd like to see a citation from a thoughtful person actually crediting Apple with invention of the GUI. I don't think any exist. I've owned makes for 23 years and the history of its evolution (Stanford->Xerox->Lisa->Mac) has been widely known. Hell, they've made movies about it.
If anything, Microsoft often gets far too much credit for the invention of MS-DOS when it was purchased from, what, Seattle Computer Products?
mt
Something like that, but not quite. What Microsoft purchased from Seattle Computer was a 16-bit CP/M clone called QDOS, which they then took the better part of a year to transform into PC-DOS for IBM.
makes me wonder if apple will ever get back into the camera market?
the newton was hardly a flop, it was just too advanced for its time, people were so afraid to "trust their schedules and lives" to a tech device
the newton was hardly a flop, it was just too advanced for its time, people were so afraid to "trust their schedules and lives" to a tech device
The ROKR was NOT Apple's product. It was Motorola attempting to get a new trendy phone, and begged and pleaded to put iTunes onto it. Apple didn't care, they had the iPhone in the works by then.
There are a few other comments in that "article" that are historically incorrect. I guess it doesn't matter, people will believe the editor .
There are a few other comments in that "article" that are historically incorrect. I guess it doesn't matter, people will believe the editor
.
When the Apple contingent first went to PARC it was obvious that they had come prepared. By reading papers published by Xerox engineers they already had a fair idea of what was going on there. Bill Atkinson specifically said that what he saw came as no great revelation. And they were openly invited by Xerox brass.
Plus the Lisa project had already been underway before the visit.
There were thousands of Altos built and distributed throughout Xerox and many other institutions, so it's presence was certainly no secret.
There are similarities to the later NeXT Cube which also had low distribution but would affect the future in great ways.
The Alto was a technological marvel considering especially the price of memory in the early 70s. It's no wonder that a Mac could out perform it ten years later.
Dealers Of Lightning, Hiltzik, Michael A.
Steve Jobs and the NeXT Big Thing, Randall E. Stross
among others
Plus the Lisa project had already been underway before the visit.
There were thousands of Altos built and distributed throughout Xerox and many other institutions, so it's presence was certainly no secret.
There are similarities to the later NeXT Cube which also had low distribution but would affect the future in great ways.
The Alto was a technological marvel considering especially the price of memory in the early 70s. It's no wonder that a Mac could out perform it ten years later.
Dealers Of Lightning, Hiltzik, Michael A.
Steve Jobs and the NeXT Big Thing, Randall E. Stross
among others
I read somewhere (can't recall where) that the Alto cost something like $70,000 per copy to build, and that was in 1970s dollars.
The cost was in the $12 - 20K range depending on the cofiguration, at which price they were sold to other Xerox divisions. Projected retail would have been closer to $40K.
No surprise, Apple TV made it onto the list. I think it's actually a fantastic product, but it's too far ahead of its time. I can see Apple TV and products like it being VERY popular 10 years from now, but it just needs time to break through.
It could be like the iPod. Apple TV sold about 250,000 units in its first six months. Compare that to the iPod where it sold about 195,000 units in its first six months - less than the Apple TV! Now look at where the iPod is today. Something to think about for the future of Apple TV...
It could be like the iPod. Apple TV sold about 250,000 units in its first six months. Compare that to the iPod where it sold about 195,000 units in its first six months - less than the Apple TV! Now look at where the iPod is today. Something to think about for the future of Apple TV...
Where'd you get the figures? Possibly the $70k figure I'm remembering was in current dollars.
Well, here's a numbered chronological list:
- The Lisa
Named after Steve Jobs' daughter, the Lisa computer was the company's first product that combined a graphical user interface with a mouse. It was an innovative idea in 1983, but the computer's unbelievable $10,000 price tag and lumbering pace led to few sales. In 1989, Apple buried thousands of unsold Lisa units in a Utah landfill, according to Apple biography Apple Confidential 2.0. - Macintosh Portable
Would you call a 15.5-pound computer portable? Most consumers didn't either. The $6,500 machine the company introduced in 1989 found few takers. But Apple rethought the computer's design, and by 1991, it came up with the PowerBook, which, along with the company's Macbook, remains the standard in laptop design. - Taligent
Apple rarely gets tagged as a purveyor of "vaporware"--products that get pre-release hype yet never find their way to market. But that's what Taligent--an operating system whose name was derived from a combination of Talent and Intelligence--became. Purportedly a superior, futuristic platform for PCs, the project began in the late 1980s, but it died a lonely death in 1995 without ever appearing in public. - The Newton
From today's perspective, the Newton seems at once both a visionary device and a bulky, pricey PDA. But in 1993, it seemed like neither: Consumers didn't know quite what to do with it. The $700 to $1,200 device, eight inches tall and 4.5 inches wide, was hardly palm-sized, and its laughably inaccurate handwriting recognition was the subject of scorn, even earning a mocking cameo in a Simpsons episode. When the thinner, cheaper, easier-to-use Palm Pilot came out in 1996, the product category finally fell into place, and the Newton faded into obscurity. - The Quicktake
Apple isn't often credited with pioneering the digital camera. But the Quicktake, released in 1994, was the first of its kind. Like Newton, Quicktake may have been too innovative for its own good. The $750 camera had no focus, and it could only store eight of its 0.3 megapixel images. Add the fact that it was only Mac-compatible, and its obscurity becomes self-explanatory. - Macintosh TV
The idea seemed simple enough: Create a computer whose monitor can function as a TV, and clear one more appliance out of the living room. The Macintosh TV mirrored the company's LC 520 PC with a TV tuner, allowing users to toggle between boob tube and computer. But the machine was crippled with slower processing than an equivalent PC, and with a price tag of more than $2,000, the Macintosh TV was an expensive TV. Less than 10,000 of the devices were made. - The Pippin
Apple's Pippin, a joint project with toymaker Bandai, was the company's attempt to follow Sony's lead and jump into the video-console market. Released in 1995 to Japan, it represented the world's first attempt to combine console gaming with Internet connectivity, and it was designed to replace the PC as much as older game consoles. But equipped with a 14.4 kilobyte-per-second modem, it could hardly handle real-time gaming online--a single chat message required about 10 minutes to send and receive. Pippin's $599 price, compared to Nintendo's $199 N64, didn't help either. - The Rokr
The Motorola Rokr was not Apple's first attempt at an iPod phone, the company's fans declare emphatically. But Apple did choose to license its iTunes software for use on the phone and partnered with Motorola to market the converged device in September 2005. The final product, which limits the amount of songs the phone can store at an arbitrary 100, was a disappointment--even if it did foretell the market-convulsing iPhone. - The Power Mac G4 Cube
When Apple's Power Mac G4 Cube was released in 2000, its innovative eight-inch cube shape and top-loading toaster-like CD drive seemed poised to redefine PC design. The Wall Street Journal called it "gorgeous." The New York Times compared it to the Parthenon. But given that the device cost $200 more than the company's comparable G4 PC with similar specs, customers weren't as impressed. Apple quietly issued a press release a year after the computer's launch that indefinitely suspended sales of the computer. - Apple TV
Not to be confused with Macintosh TV, Apple's set-top box was released last year with promises of integrating Web video and television. But Apple only managed to convince two of the six major movie studios to sign on to offer movies over the Web through the device and left out Tivo-like recording ability. Six months after its debut, the device had sold only about 250,000 units. The company has remained suspiciously mum about the its sales numbers, and Jobs has publicly dismissed it as "a hobby."
I think AppleTV would be a bigger hit if they added DVR capability to it. I doubt they would ever add a DVD drive (or Blu-Ray) to it because they want people to watch everything digitally.
Apple TV is not a flop. Some people believe that everything must sell like the iphone to be a success. Apple TV will mature and get better for those who own it.
When I said "they want people to watch everything digitally", I was talking about watching video content without the use of physical media (like a DVD). For example, downloading a movie from the iTunes store and playing it with your AppleTV.
KítscheñÇinqµe
macrumors regular
"There are no failures - just... (embarrassing goofs.)"
It certainly served as economical PR. ("there's no such thing as bad publicity") Cut off the tail, and you have a skeet.
did apple recall the 1buttpuck mouse? will apple replace the one came with this used g4?
It certainly served as economical PR. ("there's no such thing as bad publicity") Cut off the tail, and you have a skeet.
- linkkkk
1964?
Dynabook mmm? Woohoo! Toshiba Of course, laptops are still a technological failure Otherwise you'd have to concede that Tandy? Kyocera? beat apple by years... toshiba and tandy were the only laptops i heard of in the 80's. IMO, The 1st laptop with full width folding display is significant.
true? because of better hardware resources?
1991? 1975?
oh, cmon. This was the endall tv technology
Usually "newness" is subjective. Does a concept 1st exist only when purchased by "bleeding edge, early adopters"? Defining the line fineline between whoever jules verne stole from and the first retail mars orbiter is subjective. Apparently the Lisa was just too expensive.
KítscheñÇinqµe
macrumors regular
leftovers
BTW, in the late 90's i was very interested in the potential of emate/newton. i've still never seen one IRL, though...
i also recall those one piece apples from the 80's with a 6(?)" monochrome display were considered a joke... xt clones (no HD) were about $800, plus ?? $500 for 13" cga (i don't recall crt prices. mono cost less, and probably worked for wordperfect.). One piece desktops are still a failure, though lcds have improved them. Older SSF were a failure, because the necessary options (modem, graphics card) meant all slots were filled at shipping time.
http://www.forbes.com/2008/10/29/ap...ersonal-cx_ag_1030apple.html?partner=yahootix
"Newton's handwriting-recognition software, marketed as one of its most innovative features, was notoriously inaccurate, even earning a mocking cameo in an early Simpsons episode."
hmm, but if homer loved the fig newton, it couldn't be all bad.
http://www.macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/9091/
"And, all jokes aside, the handwriting recognition worked miraculously well"
Homer for president!
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/tech-talk/466848-pcworld-25-worst-tech-products-all-time.html
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20070421070225357
Cleaning Mighty Mouse
"Take 'em apart, sure. But that's not always a simple task, and who wants to pry off and then re-glue the retaining ring of a Mighty Mouse? "
glued, w2f? sounds as smart as a car with a sealed radiator. they're cutting product testing costs too far. for example, no human ever used the iPuck before it as approved for manufacturing.
BTW, in the late 90's i was very interested in the potential of emate/newton. i've still never seen one IRL, though...
i also recall those one piece apples from the 80's with a 6(?)" monochrome display were considered a joke... xt clones (no HD) were about $800, plus ?? $500 for 13" cga (i don't recall crt prices. mono cost less, and probably worked for wordperfect.). One piece desktops are still a failure, though lcds have improved them. Older SSF were a failure, because the necessary options (modem, graphics card) meant all slots were filled at shipping time.
http://www.forbes.com/2008/10/29/ap...ersonal-cx_ag_1030apple.html?partner=yahootix
"Newton's handwriting-recognition software, marketed as one of its most innovative features, was notoriously inaccurate, even earning a mocking cameo in an early Simpsons episode."
hmm, but if homer loved the fig newton, it couldn't be all bad.
http://www.macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/9091/
"And, all jokes aside, the handwriting recognition worked miraculously well"
Homer for president!
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/tech-talk/466848-pcworld-25-worst-tech-products-all-time.html
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20070421070225357
Cleaning Mighty Mouse
"Take 'em apart, sure. But that's not always a simple task, and who wants to pry off and then re-glue the retaining ring of a Mighty Mouse? "
glued, w2f? sounds as smart as a car with a sealed radiator. they're cutting product testing costs too far. for example, no human ever used the iPuck before it as approved for manufacturing.
KítscheñÇinqµe
macrumors regular
NeXT Cube
hmm, wasn't NeXT Cube more of a jobs carryover, than an "influence"? it was jobs' baby.
the only NeXT innovation was optical media as main storage (which history now appears to have bypassed), according to this semirandom google find:
http://www.librarytechnology.org/ltg-displaytext.pl?RC=3603
libraries had been subscribing to cdrom databases for a few years (IIRC), so optical readers weren't new.
this looks like a first for actual production: os-app interoperability:
http://www.nextcube.org/board/bbs.p...d=3&nws=&page=5&keyword=&flag=subject&a_o=AND
(i'm assuming that's what that webpage discusses.)
hmm, wasn't NeXT Cube more of a jobs carryover, than an "influence"? it was jobs' baby.
the only NeXT innovation was optical media as main storage (which history now appears to have bypassed), according to this semirandom google find:
http://www.librarytechnology.org/ltg-displaytext.pl?RC=3603
libraries had been subscribing to cdrom databases for a few years (IIRC), so optical readers weren't new.
this looks like a first for actual production: os-app interoperability:
http://www.nextcube.org/board/bbs.p...d=3&nws=&page=5&keyword=&flag=subject&a_o=AND
(i'm assuming that's what that webpage discusses.)
Your memory's a little off. Around the time of the introduction of the original Macintosh in 1984, one of the main clone manufacturers, Columbia, went out of business. What that meant was that IBM and Compaq could charge a premium for its computers. And they did. The concept of cheap clones from Asia were a few years off. Remember, not so terribly long ago, Gateway and Dell dominated the market with U.S. manufacturing plants.
Getting back to Apple, the original Macintosh came with 128K memory, 400K diskette drives and the 8-inch monochrome monitor. Because of price, you were probably still looking at an IBM PC as its competition, maybe with 64K RAM (not a typo), 360KB disks (5.25 inch, natch) and if you were lucky, they through in a primitive CGA adapter with a cruddy phosphor green screen. In terms of pixels, the Mac crammed more in 8 inches than IBM gave you in 12. (XTs and ATs were available, but they were way too costly compared to even Macs at the time).
As for price, like I said, IBM and Compaq, the two main manufacturers at the time, didn't mind charging through the nose. In February 1985 (after the Fat Macs were introduced and Apple wanted to unload old inventory), I got an original Mac, an external floppy drive, Imagewriter I printer and software for just under $2,200. The price included a copy of Microsoft Word (the most regrettable $250 I've ever spent). You also got the operating system with the computer. For that, the PC side charged extra. PC also charged extra for sound and graphics cards, which were on the Mac motherboard.
In terms of price, the PC folks had nothing that could touch it. (And the Imagewriter was 10 times the printer anything IBM had to offer at the time).
Joke? Sure, the PC nerds laughed at Apple. Of course, the response was the ridiculous PCjr. That is a joke computer.
A failure? Can't agree here. Sure, lots of people would rather have a CPU box and separate monitor, but considering the millions of Macs, eMacs and iMacs and the assorted imitators on the PC side [those of course were failures] it seems most people have been able to deal with the all-in-one box.
Although Apple released the Mac II (in 1987?), it still has all in one boxes and I'd trade my mini for a sweet iMac right now, any day.
mt