The success or the failure of a product is always a mere game of chance, no matter how many resources they consume in the making. Some of the most amazing things have failed in history, and the reason for their failures wasn’t always that these products are dumb or useless. Sometimes, things are just too ahead of their time, and people fail to understand the inventor’s vision.
We have compiled a list of some of the unique gadget flops for you. Have a look and let us know your views about them.
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Oakley Thump Sunglasses (2007)
The Oakley Thump were the first sunglasses that had a built-in audio player. For indoor use, the glasses had flip-up lenses. There were 256 MB, 512 MB, and 1 GB versions of these glasses. The last versions came with polarized lenses. Why did they fail? Obvious reasons: agonizing audio controls, small flash memory, and a high price of $495.
Source: CN Folio -
MSN Direct Smart Watches (2004)
Did smart watches exist in 2004? Apparently, yes as Fossil and Swatch collectively made these expensive and bulky watches. They were a pay-per-use product with a cost of about $10 a month. They could fetch news, sports, and weather through FM. Thank heavens that these rocks of a gadget disappeared from the market in 2008.
Source: Gadget Madness -
Segway (2001)
Walking is free, but the Segway wasn’t. The inventor Dean Kamen was of the view that the Segway Human Transporter would replace walking. Ever since its launch, there have only been 50,000 Segways sold. The two-wheeled self-balancing vehicle was indeed, cool. However, could we revolutionize personal transport with a $5,000 gadget? Nah, not happening!
Source: Living Stingy -
The Amstrad E-Mailer (2000)
This product was a telephone with an LCD and an internet dial-up back in 2000. It should have succeeded, right? The telephone had email messaging capabilities with a pay-on-use model. However, checking email on the go through the gadget was quite expensive. At that time, an alternative broadband connection was already available which was less expensive so, this device failed.
Source: PC Advisor -
Google Glass (2013-14)
Google Glass was one of the most anticipated gadgets, before its release. Too much hype led to too many expectations, thus, giving way to a huge disappointment among consumers. The specs were amazing; one could capture photos and get directions simply through voice activation. However, a terrible battery life, a non-intuitive interface and a price of $1500 undoubtedly, resulted in a failure.
Source: The Verge -
Sinclair C5 (1985)
The Sinclair C5 was an electrically assisted pedal cycle, marketed as a personal electric vehicle. For the year 1985, the vehicle was pretty cool, right? Sir Clive Sinclair designed it for his love of electric vehicles. They began the production of these vehicles in 1985 but had to close it down due to poor sales. It looks like a lovely gadget, therefore, no one knows why this vehicle did not get the fame it deserved.
Source: Daily Mail -
Sony Tablet P (2012)
Not all the gadgets, which failed, are old. The Sony Tablet P was a 2-in-1 device with a dual 5.5-inch display that came in both flat and folded form. The device was outdated at its release as it could not even support AT&T’s network. For a crazy price tag of $599, the gadget could not fit in a jeans pocket. It did, however, allow an app to be stretched across both its screens, but it still did not allow running two apps simultaneously. No wonder it failed.
Source: Digit We picked the 7 that we thought were the worst. Tell us your picks in your comments!
