Breaking Down 21 Apple Product Flops from 1980 – 2014
“Fail fast, fail often” is a common mantra that has circulated around Silicon Valley for years. However, there has been an outrage about its validity lately, especially as full-fledged funeral services mourn the remnants of startups past.
Despite this ongoing debate, Apple serves as an example of a company that has taken big product risks with their fair share of failure. At the same time, the company has had many runaway successes that have changed the world as we know it, helping the company’s market capitalization soar towards the coveted $1 trillion mark.
This culture of innovation comes with many quirks. Many of these product fails are ahead of their time such as Newton PDAs (1987), Macintosh TV (1993), and eWorld (1994). That said, many of these were also downright ridiculous. The “Hockey Puck” mouse (1998) serves as the best example of this: a perfectly circular, short, and clumsy mouse that would often do the opposite movement that a user wanted from the cursor.
Original graphics from: 7 Day Shop
