The 50 Worst Fails in Tech History

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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The 50 Worst Fails in Tech History


The wonders of modern technology are impressive but as this list of "The 50 Worst Fails in Tech History" proves, not every idea is a good one and even some good ideas just don't work out like they're supposed to.

Do you remember the Apple Pippin [http://www.complex.com/tech/2011/04/the-50-worst-fails-in-tech-history/apple-pippin]? I don't, and I don't think that's just because I'm not a console guy. The unit came out in 1996 bearing a fat price tag and no software of note, and right into a market being warred over by Nintendo and Sega. 100,000 units were built, of which just 42,000 were apparently sold. That's a fail, folks; one of the top 50 worst fails in tech history.

Put together by the gang at Complex, this worst-ever list is packed with an unfortunately large number of familiar products, but I have to admit that it's a lot of fun to look back on some of this stuff, occasionally with regret for a good idea that just didn't pan out but far more often with simple wonder that somebody thought it was a good idea in the first place. A device that lets you smell the internet? Seriously? [Yes, seriously.]

The list includes a few other infamous gaming products, like the Gameboy DSi XL, the Philips CD-i and the Nintendo Virtual Boy, as well as two separate versions of Windows. Microsoft is very well represented on the list, actually, but lest anyone get too smug, so is Apple. In fact, while some of these products are "one-hit wonders" from companies you've never heard of, most were created by huge, successful corporations. It would seem that for every iPhone on the market, there's a skeleton of a Newton hanging in a dark closet out back.

I won't spoil the number-one biggest tech fail of all time, but I will say that I'd never heard of it before today; apparently it was such an epic fail that the company responsible for it pulled the plug almost immediately and buried it deeper than Jimmy Hoffa. I guess it's like the man said: if at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you ever tried. The complete list of the 50 Worst Fails in Tech History is up at complex.com [http://www.complex.com/tech/2011/04/the-50-worst-fails-in-tech-history]. Got anything you'd like to add?


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Mr. Omega

ANTI-LIFE JUSTIFIES MY HATE!
Jul 1, 2010
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This is the Escapist, so... (Anticipating the Wii and 3DS in 3...2...1...)

OT: Never even heard of the Kin, or a lot of these devices.
 

xHipaboo420x

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Apr 22, 2009
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It linked straight to number 1, what a disappointment.

Regardless, the site loads so slowly. What hell, internet.
 

Quaxar

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Sep 21, 2009
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Andy Chalk said:
Do you remember the Apple Pippin [http://www.complex.com/tech/2011/04/the-50-worst-fails-in-tech-history/apple-pippin]? I don't, and I don't think that's just because I'm not a console guy. The unit came out in 1996 bearing a fat price tag and no software of note, and right into a market being warred over by Nintendo and Sega. 100,000 units were built, of which just 42,000 were apparently sold. That's a fail, folks; one of the top 50 worst fails in tech history.
I don't think that's the main concern with it. I'm betting what peopledidn't like about the console was that apple had the glorious idea to place design above heat ventilation and built the whole thing without proper cooling.
Best use was probably for cats to sleep on.
 

JDKJ

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Oct 23, 2010
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The Apple Pippin failed because it was so far ahead of it's time, it couldn't be properly appreciated. That and the fact that someone screwed up royally and misspelled its name on printed advertising and packaging materials. It was originally intended to be called the Apple Pimpin'.
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
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The Escapist should starting making some of these lists.

>_>

Lighten the mood, GamesRadar style.

"Top 5" made me so damn happy. BUT WE NEED MORE POINTLESS LISTS!
 

mjc0961

YOU'RE a pie chart.
Nov 30, 2009
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Andy Chalk said:
Gameboy DSi XL
What? Did they really call it that? *looks* Oi, they did. And they completely missed the point of the device (it's not an upgrade for people who already have a DS, it's a bigger DS with a bigger screen for people who don't have a DS and would like one with screens they can actually see instead of the smaller ones on the normal DS) There went their credibility, at least in my eyes. Also, as far as I know, a lot of people like the DSi XL.

EDIT: The comments section also makes it clear that those guys aren't too bright. They don't know how the PS Eye sold so many units? Sheesh. Move this list to the list of the top 50 worst fails in list creating history.
 

JDKJ

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Oct 23, 2010
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They should have included the popping of the tech-stock bubble in 2000, when the NASDAQ fell from 5,048 to 3,649 in two weeks of trading. That was an epic fail.

But I still made money shorting dot.com stocks. I do the shafting. I never get shafted.
 

JDKJ

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Oct 23, 2010
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ccdohl said:
Fail is not a noun.
fail n. 1 failure -- usually used in the phrase "without fail;" 2 a failure (as by a security dealer) to deliver or receive securities within a prescribed period after purchase or sale

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fail
 

Baldr

The Noble
Jan 6, 2010
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DSi XL is not separate console from the DS, just a different version like the difference between PS2 and PS2 Slim or the Xbox 360/ Elite/ Slim. So if the DS is not a failure than the DSi XL can not be a failure.
 

WilliamRLBaker

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Jan 8, 2010
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Wheres the psp go? why does that list suck so badly? why is that site so slow loading and why does every entry require an entire reload of the page? Vista was slow and buggy? I used it reliably since its release till about 6 months after windows 7's release where I got win 7 near free...