5 Failed Apple products

With the prevalence today of pristine-quality Apple products such as the iPhone and Macs, it’s easy to believe Apple has only had “hits” ever since Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak formed the company with Ronald Wayne in the garage of Job’s family home in 1976.

However, this perception doesn’t align with reality; there have been many ”misses” over the years, with several less-than-desirable apple products produced, especially during the period when Jobs was fired from the company (1985 to 1997).

Here’s 5 of these failed Apple products:

Apple Newton

 

This PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) was introduced during the era that Jobs was absent from the company and it functioned as a MessagePad. The device was not particuallry well received as it was hard to use, had processing issues and there was a flaw in the character recognition feature. While this feature was ahead of its time in conception, the problems it experienced in functionality resulted in it becoming the butt of many jokes and falling below sales expectations.  Apple predicted that the Newton would sell at least a million units, but it had only sold 50,000 units after 3 months and had bleak future prospects.

Even tohugh the design team eventually corrected the character recognition, the damage had already been done. Job’s didn’t like the Newton, and cut its production when he came back to the company in 1997.

Apple III

 

The Apple I and Apple II revolutionised PC use, and much was expected of the Apple III when it was released on May 19, 1980.  Unfortunately, the Apple III failed to hit the mark and ended up being Apple’s first commercial failure, even though it was the company’s first attempt to enter the business market.

Perhaps the biggest problem with the Apple III was the fact that its motherboard became hot too quickly, causing the motherboard to warp and chips to pop from their sockets. Jobs played a large role in causing this problem as he demanded the removal of the cooling fan, claiming that it was “too noisy and inelegant.” Other problems included the Save command (using it caused the computer to crash) and the clock not working after a few hours of use. Ultimately, the failure of the Apple III place apple under serious financial pressure.

Macintosh Portable

Another product released during Job’s absence (in 1989), the design of this computer seems almost laughable now compared to the modern, sleek design of Apple laptops.

This “portable” computer was anything but that; as it weighed in excess of 16 pounds, no one was willing to carry it around, especially since there were other, lighter portable computers in the market. Further problems include the fact that its faulty battery system meant that it hardly Ever worked properly or booted up. It was also staggeringly expensive, with a price tag of $6,500,  this litany of problems resulted in PC World’s 2006 edition rating it as the 17^th worst tech product ever made.

It’s a far cry from the modern era, where  you can use your mobile device to play at Royal Vegas

iPod Shuffle 3rd Generation

In Apple’s attempts to outdo itself in terms of devising petite-sized iPods, it introduced the “jaw-droppingly small” iPod Shuffle 3rd Generation in 2009.  And while it certainly accomplished the goal of miniscule, Apple failed to take into account that people like buttons on their devices.  Its buttonless design meant that users found it hard to operate the device, as the single button on the headphones had multiple functionalities.  Apple listened to the consumer voices and the 4^th generation iPod was designed with buttons.

Apple QuickTake

What basics would you expect from a camera? Perhaps the ability to zoom or focus? Well, Apple somehow decided that these features were not essential when it released the Apple QuickTake in the early 1990s. Considering Apple’s reputation for leading innovation and being at the technological forefront, this device was surprisingly far less advanced than other cameras at the time. Further, the camera could only store 8 pictures, so if you had plans to be a shutter bug on an outing, those desires had to be seriously tempered.  This was yet another product introduced during Job’s absence, and it wouldn’t be hyperbolic to suggest that it is a strong contender for the worst product ever made by apple.

So, we’ve probably made you recoil a bit reading about these devices. If you want to see devices that are actually good, check out our blog of this year’s most oddly awesome gadgets.

 

 

Your turn: what do you think?