Name Two Products And Services We Take For Granted That Did Not Exist 20 Years Ago?

Michael B. Sauter, Evan Comen, Thomas C. Frohlich and Samuel Stebbins

Some product launches can be spectacular failures, and Google Glass, an eyeglasses shaped head-mounted device with smartphone capabilities, failed in such a manner several years ago. It was meant to be the first piece of technology to connect the typical consumer to augmented reality. Google continues to attempt to find a place for the product, […]

Some product launches can exist spectacular failures, and Google Glass, an eyeglasses shaped head-mounted device with smartphone capabilities, failed in such a fashion several years ago. It was meant to be the start piece of engineering science to connect the typical consumer to augmented reality.

Google continues to attempt to find a place for the product, but its original launch was a definitive failure. In 2017, the net behemothic announced the relaunch of the device to target to businesses rather than the general public, only whatever happens, information technology will be adopted by a meaningfully narrower audience.

Just like success, failure is office of doing business. Entrepreneurs and large companies often take big risks, hoping for success but not always achieving it.

These failures accept many different forms. When a production doesn't sell, when information technology is recalled or discontinued, or when it otherwise does non come shut to meeting a company's expectations or plans, information technology tin can be marked as a failure. While failures are expected, some can be so catastrophic they can lead to permanent damage to a visitor's reputation, layoffs, and even complete financial ruin.

Sometimes, it tin can take years, or even decades for a production bomb to disappear from the market. This was the case with Betamax a video format which Sony introduced, expecting it to replace VHS. Despite existence technologically superior to VHS, Betamax lost market share until it eventually vanished.

24/7 Wall Street reviewed some of the greatest product launch blunders throughout history. Today, these production flops exist every bit example studies companies employ to avoid future failure. They range from Ford's Edsel in 1958 to 2016'due south Galaxy Note vii. Many of these products led to losses in the hundreds of millions, and sometimes billions. In tech, pic, the internet, the pharmaceutical industry, and more than, these are the biggest production flops of all fourth dimension.

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ane. Google Glass

Company: Google
Year introduced: 2013
What it was: Wearable applied science

Google get-go announced Google Glass -- an eyeglasses shaped head-mounted brandish with smartphone capabilities -- to the public in 2012. The announcement began with a statement of principle: "We think applied science should work for you -- to be there when you lot need it and exit of your way when you don't." After two years of disappointing sales, information technology was articulate consumers did not need Google Glass. Google stuck to its principle, and in 2015 discontinued the product's evolution. Privacy concerns, reported bugs, low bombardment life, bans from public spaces, and an inability to live up to the hype all stymied public adoption of the technology.

2. The Newton

Company: Apple tree
Year introduced: 1993
What it was: Personal digital assistant

While the personal digital assistant would become a popular consumer electronics product in the late 1990s, the start PDA was one of the biggest product flops of all time. One year afterward Apple tree CEO John Sculley coined the term "PDA" in 1992, the company released the Newton MessagePad. While the device incorporated innovative technology such as a pen-based touch screen and the ability to sync with software on a personal reckoner, Apple tree sold simply fifty,000 units of the production in its first iv months on the market. The Newton product line was discontinued in 1998.

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3. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial video game

3. Due east.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Company: Atari
Twelvemonth introduced: 1982
What it was: Video game

Several video games accept failed over the years, but arguably none as spectacularly as E.T. the Actress-Terrestrial. The video game was created/developed shortly after the release of Steven Spielberg's classic picture show. With only 5 weeks spent in evolution -- games typically take months, if non years, to programme -- the game was notoriously difficult and sold miserably. Atari spent $21 million to purchase the rights to the franchise and $5 million on promotion of the game. The company made 4 meg copies of the game, but sold only 1.5 million. Atari buried the leftover copies in a landfill.

4. Satisfries

Visitor: Burger Rex
Year introduced: 2013
What it was: French fries

In 2013, Burger King introduced a new menu item advertised as a healthy alternative to their traditional french fries. Satisfries used a less porous batter, which caused the fry to blot less oil than regular fries during cooking. While Satisfries were fabricated with a healthier recipe, Burger King failed to convey the difference to customers. The fries were likewise more expensive than Burger King's regular french chips, and failed to gain traction with consumers. The company discontinued the chips in 2014, less than a year later on they were introduced.

5. Premier smokeless cigarettes

Visitor: RJ Reynolds
Yr introduced: 1988
What it was: Cigarette

R.J. Reynolds, the 2nd largest U.South. tobacco company, began marketing in 1988 a smokeless tobacco product that was intended to be a safer fashion to apply a cigarette. In improver to concerns over the product's bodily rubber, smokers missed the familiar elements of traditional cigarettes -- the fume, the burn down, and the flick. Another issue was the widely-reported unpleasant chemical taste, which one user described equally resembling "burning plastic." Reynolds sunk close to $1 billion into the product before pulling it off the market inside a year.

vi. Cheetos Lip Balm

Company: Frito-Lay
Year introduced: 2005
What it was: Lip balm

Pop lip balm brands such as Chapstick, Blistex, and Burt's Bees, have successfully sold their products to Americans for decades. Many adopt such flavored varieties as crimson, mint, and vanilla bean. Not every pop flavor can exist successfully turned into a lip lotion, however, a lesson PepsiCo subsidiary Frito-Lay learned the hard fashion in 2005. While Cheetos has been a popular snack for more than than vi decades, Cheetos-flavored lip balm failed to catch on with consumers.

7. Terra Nova

Company: Fox
Year introduced: 2011
What it was: Goggle box show

Every year, Tv shows are cancelled earlier the terminate of their first flavor. While Terra Nova, which aired for one 13-episode season, is non unusual in this regard, it may go downward equally the most plush cancelled tv show of all time. Documenting the time-traveling adventures of a 22nd century family fleeing a dystopian gild for a prehistoric by, the airplane pilot of the show solitary toll Fox between $16 and $20 meg to make. Terra Nova encountered numerous production mishaps while filming in Commonwealth of australia, including a inundation that nearly killed a coiffure member. Ratings failed to run into expectations, and the show was non renewed for a second flavour. Fox is estimated to take spent more than than $50 million on the failed bear witness, not including marketing costs.

eight. Touch of Yogurt shampoo

Visitor: Clairol
Twelvemonth introduced: 1979
What it was: Shampoo

In keeping with the 1970s trend of incorporating natural food ingredients like lemon, herbs, and honey into dazzler and hygiene products, Clairol -- at the fourth dimension a subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb -- thought a yogurt shampoo was just what the American consumer wanted. It turned out the company had grossly miscalculated. Many consumers were apparently dislocated every bit to what they had bought, as there were reported cases of people eating the shampoo.

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9. New Coke

Company: Coca-Cola
Year introduced: 1985
What information technology was: Soft beverage

Over the 15 years leading up to 1985, Coca-Cola'southward flagship cola drink had been losing marketplace share to Pepsi Cola. To compete, the visitor changed the drink's formula for the first fourth dimension in 99 years -- but the move today is considered one of the greatest flops of all time. New Coke was met with public outrage and lasted only a few months. The company reintroduced its older formula, rebranded equally Coca-Cola Classic.

ten. Windows Vista

Company: Microsoft
Year introduced: 2007
What information technology was: Operating system

Introduced in 2007 every bit a follow-up to Windows XP, the Windows Vista operating system was everything its popular predecessor was not -- in all the wrong ways. Panned by customers and IT professionals alike, Vista reduced PC performance and acquired a number of internet problems for users. Equally a effect, Dell began offer Windows XP once more on new laptops a few short months after Vista was introduced. Windows announced this calendar month that it would no longer provide support for Vista, driving the final nail into the operating arrangement's bury.

11. Kitchen Entrees

Company: Colgate
Year introduced: 1982
What it was: Frozen meal

Many of the worst product flops in recent memory were caused by otherwise popular brands wandering also far outside of their area of expertise. Colgate Kitchen Entrees may exist the best case of such a product failure. When it came to pre-prepared frozen meals, Americans had enough of options in the 1980s. Perhaps because consumers naturally associated the Colgate proper name with toothpaste, in that location was never much of an appetite for pre-fabricated meals bearing the Colgate logo.

12. Coors Rocky Mountain Sparkling H2o

Company: Coors
Yr introduced: 1990
What it was: Sparkling water

Coors and Coors Light are two of the near popular beers in the United states of america. Introducing Coors Rocky Mountain Sparkling H2o to the public in 1990, the Coors Brewing Visitor too sought to capitalize on the fast-growing bottled h2o segment in the U.s.. The h2o was Coors' first non-alcoholic product since Prohibition. The Coors brand proper name did not help to sell the product, nonetheless, as the beer-proper name branding may have dislocated or even frightened consumers. Coors let its trademark of Rocky Mountain Sparkling Water expire in 1997.

13. Harley Davidson perfume

Company: Harley Davidson
Yr released: 1994
What it was: Perfume

Harley Davidson is one of the near iconic and valuable brands in the globe. It is also one of the almost masculine brands. The company has not deviated considerably from this manly personality, although it has tried. The company released Legendary Harley-Davidson, a cologne for men, amongst several other varieties, starting in 1994. Another perfume, Blackness Fire, hit the market as recently as 2005. All are now discontinued. In the 1990s, the company released a number of other products, including wine coolers and aftershave, which after declining miserably have too become classic cases of brand overextension.

14. Persil Power

Holding company: Unilever
Year released: 1994
What it was: Stain remover

Unilever introduced Persil Power detergent to the market in 1994. The product utilized a newly patented stain removal formula called Accelerator. The company was so confident in the Accelerator catalyst that it carried out its $300 1000000 introduction of Persil Ability without any formal test marketing. Over time, it became articulate the detergent was damaging dress at loftier temperatures. Later on nine months on the shelves, the visitor replaced Persil Power with Persil New Generation, a detergent without the Accelerator chemical compound.

15. Cosmopolitan yogurt

Visitor: Cosmopolitan
Year introduced: 1999
What it was: Yogurt

Cosmopolitan is a popular women's magazine, full of manner advice, dating tips, glory gossip, and horoscopes. What the mag'southward leadership was thinking when they expanded the brand'south reach from the magazine alley to the dairy aisle remains a mystery. Few volition likely recall the 1999 debut of Cosmopolitan'south yogurt line, as the short-lived production was only bachelor for 18 months. Like many other products on this list, Cosmopolitan yogurt was a case of a brand reaching too far beyond its surface area of expertise.

16. DH 106 Comet

Company: De Havilland
Year introduced: 1949
What it was: Airplane

We now take jet travel for granted, but the development of a commercially feasible jetliner involved a great deal of trial, error, and some utter failures. De Havilland, a British aircraft manufacturer, developed the Comet, the offset commercial jet airliner. Unfortunately, within a few years of its 1949 debut, the Comet encountered several unexplained fatal crashes, including planes overrunning the rails and 1 exploding in midair. The Comet's reputation plummeted, and while De Havilland scrambled to redesign the plane, American companies Douglas and Boeing took over the industry.

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17. DeLorean DMC-12

Company: Delorean Motor Company
Yr introduced: 1981
What it was: Sports car

In 1973, auto executive John DeLorean left General Motors to grade the DeLorean Motor Company. After years of production delays, the DeLorean DMC-12 was released in January 1981. The machine's unique design was poorly received, however, and by 1982 less than half of the vii,000 DeLorean units produced had been sold. The DeLorean is widely recognized due to its use as a converted fourth dimension machine in the "Back to the Time to come" serial. Yet, the first of these films was released in 1985, far too late to save the ill-blighted brand. DeLorean filed for bankruptcy in 1982.

18. EZ Squirt

Company: Heinz
Year released: 2000
Company revenue when released: Ketchup

Before EZ Squirt, ketchup was always varying shades of reddish. To cater to kids, who were -- and all the same are -- amidst ketchup's largest groups of consumers, Heinz began producing purple, green, and blueish EZ Squirt ketchup in matching, vibrantly colored squeeze bottles. At outset, the colorful ketchup was a huge success. The novelty wore off quickly, however, and not long subsequently its introduction, sales of EZ Squirt began to turn down. In January 2006, less than six years later its debut, Heinz halted production of the product.

xix. United states of america Football game League

Company: USFL
Year introduced: 1982
What it was: Sports league

Conceived as a mode to satiate America's appetite for football game in the spring and summertime months, the United states Football game League was introduced in 1982. The league originally consisted of 12 teams, one of which, the New Jersey Generals, was owned by President Donald Trump. The league was beset with bug, not the least of which was finding stadiums to play in. Ultimately, over half a dozen teams folded when the league'south brain trust decided to compete directly with the NFL by scheduling games in the fall. Past 1985, the league was finished.

20. Dwelling

Visitor: Facebook
Yr introduced: 2013
What information technology was: Mobile phone app

With ascent mobile phone use and social media appointment, Facebook in 2013 decided to launch a family of apps that combine these trends. Facebook Home converts the home screen of a smartphone into the Facebook news feed. While well-nigh of Facebook's over i billion users log in to their accounts on a smartphone, the social media giant's new production never caught on. Early users cited clunky operation, the inability to toggle between Facebook Domicile and the original telephone interface, and lack of options for customization, among other snags.

21. Edsel

Company: Ford
Yr introduced: 1957
What it was: Car

Ford spent a twelvemonth aggressively marketing the Edsel -- named afterward Henry Ford'southward son -- alee of its 1957 release. It was to be the "motorcar of the time to come," made bachelor on dealership lots on what Ford dubbed "E-Day." Despite the hype, the auto was a commercial disaster. It was considerably overpriced, disappointingly not futuristic, and generally ugly. Ford ceased the car's product subsequently only ii years, losing an estimated $350 million.

22. Friendster

Company: Friendster
Year introduced: 2002
What it was: Social media site

Social media site Facebook is one of the biggest corporate success stories in recent memory. Unfortunately, when it comes to social media, for every success story there is at least one bomb -- as in the case of Friendster. The site's users suffered through deadening page loading times and the company'southward developers failed to scale up when the number of subscribers spiked. Ultimately, competitors such as Facebook provided a much better user feel. Introduced in 2002, Friendster discontinued its services in mid-2015.

23. WOW! Chips

Company: Frito-Lay
Year introduced: 1998
What information technology was: Snack

PepsiCo subsidiary Frito-Lay introduced its line of WOW! Chips in 1998. The chips, which were fabricated with the fatty substitute olestra, were marketed equally a healthy snacking alternative. While WOW! Chips were an initial success with $347 million in sales in their get-go year -- the most of whatsoever new product in 1998 -- sales slowed when the unpleasant side furnishings of olestra, such as diarrhea and cramps, became meliorate known. To add to the product'southward issues, the Food and Drug Administration instituted labeling requirements for all products containing olestra to behave warnings of "abdominal cramping and loose stools," and by 2000, sales of WOW! Chips were roughly 60% of what they were in the year of their release.

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24. Zune

Company: Microsoft
Yr introduced: 2006
What it was: MP3 actor

In an attempt to compete with Apple tree's dominant iPod MP3 actor, Microsoft released the Zune in 2006. As of November 15, 2015, Microsoft discontinued all streaming, downloading, and other music services for the Zune. In the 4th quarter of fiscal 2009, Microsoft recorded a 42% decline in acquirement in its not-gaming devices segment -- a reject largely attributable to the Zune's poor performance. While the device might take been a reasonable choice for consumers, a number of reported bugs did non help sales. On Dec 31, 2008, most if non all 30GB Zunes stopped functioning simply because the underlying code had failed to account for the extra day in leap years.

25. Relenza

Company: GlaxoSmithKline
Year introduced: 1999
What information technology was: Influenza pandemic drug

In 1999, a influenza pandemic fright caused past the spread of avian flu created demand for antiviral medications. The FDA approved two flu drugs during the pandemic -- Tamiflu and Relenza. The one-time went on to report massive sales, while the latter became ane of the worst product flops in the pharmaceutical industry. The powder form of the drug caused respiratory problems in some patients and was merely approved as a treatment for flu rather than a preventative measure. GlaxoSmithKline sold only $13 million worth of the drug in the first quarter of 2006. By comparison, Roche reported $770 million in Tamiflu sales in the outset half of the twelvemonth.

26. Google+

Visitor: Google
Year introduced: 2011
What information technology was: Social media site

No all product flops are necessarily discontinued. Sometimes, despite failing to live up to company expectations, they linger. Such is the case with Google+, the social media platform the Silicon Valley giant launched in 2011 to compete with Facebook. Withal, even with a monumental marketing campaign, Google+ failed to distinguish itself from Facebook and never took off in the same manner. While the site experienced an initial surge in subscribers, by Apr 2015, Google+ had experienced a 98% decline in user engagement. Today, Google+ has some active user groups and is often used to share photos.

27. HP Touchpad

Company: Hewlett-Packard
Yr introduced: 2011
What it was: Tablet figurer

The TouchPad was Hewlett Packard's try to compete with Apple's wildly successful iPad. Hewlett Packard unveiled the device in the middle of 2011 with an extremely costly advertising campaign. The rollout incorporated numerous celebrity contracts. By late summertime, all the same, box stores such as Best Buy were sitting on excess inventory, and HP began offering steep discounts. Many discounted TouchPads were sold at a loss, and it is estimated the company lost hundreds of millions on the product in all.

28. Kellogg's Breakfast Mates

Visitor: Kellogg's
Yr introduced: 1998
What it was: Breakfast food

In 1998, Kellogg's introduced Breakfast Mates, an all-in-i package containing a serving of cereal, a small carton of milk, and a plastic spoon. The product was designed equally a fourth dimension saver that would appeal busy families with two working parents. The stated convenience of the all-in-1 packaging did piddling to relieve time, largely considering traditional cereal is already relatively convenient to consume. In a controlled test reported by The New York Times, preparing a basin of cereal the traditional manner took just one second longer than preparing a basin of Breakfast Mates. To make matters worse, the production's $30 one thousand thousand ad campaign sent a mixed message, depicting a family eating the supposedly portable cereal around the kitchen table. In Baronial 1999, Kellogg'southward appear Breakfast Mates would be discontinued due to depression sales.

29. Maxwell House Brewed Coffee

Company: Maxwell House
Year introduced: 1990
What information technology was: Coffee

Maxwell House Brewed Coffee was pre-brewed java sold in a carton with a picture show of a hot mug of coffee on the packaging, a misleading visual cue for a product meant to be stored in the refrigerator. Adding to the production's bug, the carton was lined with foil and could not be microwaved. For a product marketed for its convenience, this was an especially problematic characteristic for consumers. The product was discontinued shortly afterward it was released.

30. Arch Deluxe

Company: McDonald'south
Year introduced: 1996
What information technology was: Hamburger

McDonald's introduced several failed products throughout its 60-year history, but none so monumental as the Arch Deluxe. Introduced in 1996, the Curvation Deluxe was marketed as a more gastronomic hamburger with "a grown-upwards taste." I commercial featured a child unable to enjoy the sophisticated burger, stripping its toppings to satisfy his unrefined palate. The Arch Deluxe'south advertising upkeep was an estimated $200 million, the most of any fast food product at the time. However, the approach failed and sales of the Arch Palatial missed the $i billion expectation ready for its first yr. The Arch Palatial was somewhen discontinued.

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31. Hard disk DVD

Visitor: Toshiba
Year introduced: 2006
What it was: Media storage/playback device

Blu-ray'southward succession of the DVD was not preordained. Before Blu-ray was the ascendant medium for video playback, it was competing with Toshiba'south HD DVD. Essentially the aforementioned product, HD DVD was effectively taken out to pasture when in January 2008, Warner Bros. announced it would simply support Sony's Blu-ray format. Toshiba was not the merely loser in the battle confronting Blu-ray. Millions of Americans found themselves stuck with HD DVD players and laptops after the dust settled.

32. Microsoft Bob

Company: Microsoft
Year introduced: 1995
What it was: User interface

Microsoft released Microsoft Bob in March 1995. Intended as a simple, easy-to-apply OS interface at the time, Bob presented the desktop as a house, with familiar objects respective with different computer applications. Clicking on the stationary lying on a desk, for example, opened the word processor. Despite its simple appearance, Bob required more processing power than nearly home computers had in 1995. Bob was besides considered too expensive and poorly designed, and was overshadowed past the release of Windows 95 later that twelvemonth. Bob was discontinued roughly a yr after its release.

33. 47 Ronin

Company: Universal Pictures
Year introduced: 2013
What information technology was: Moving picture

The 2013 fantasy action moving-picture show "47 Ronin", starring Keanu Reeves, is now notorious as i of the biggest box office flops of all time. The picture show lost nearly $150 million on a $225 meg budget and left Universal Pictures in the red for the fiscal year. Insiders indicate to multiple rewrites of the screenplay every bit well every bit several post-production changes that were made equally filmmakers and studio executives attempted to find creative balance while appeasing moviegoers. In the terminate, the motion picture failed to strike a chord with audiences and critics alike.

34. Qwikster

Visitor: Netflix
Twelvemonth introduced: 2011
What it was: DVD rental service

Earlier Netflix became the media streaming giant we know today, it was exclusively a deliver-by-postal service DVD rental service. In an ill conceived of strategy, CEO Reed Hastings announced in September 2011 the company'south plan to spin off its DVD rental service into a split company, known as Qwikster. The move, which was meant to allow Netflix to focus more on its streaming services, would have toll consumers about 60% more if they wished to keep to have admission to both services. Unpopular with customers and widely criticized, Hastings scrapped the program less than a month later information technology was announced.

35. Virtual Boy

Company: Nintendo
Yr introduced: 1995
What it was: Portable game console

Virtual Male child was game console maker Nintendo's early foray into virtual reality applied science. Withal, the visitor discontinued the portable console less than a year after its 1995 release, selling merely 770,000 units globally. It is known as one of the company's worst failures. To cut costs and reduce bombardment drain, Nintendo used simply blackness and red shades in Virtual Boy games, which bothered some users. Using the Virtual Boy as well caused eye strain in some users, which led Nintendo to include an automated shutoff machinery.

36. MeeGo

Visitor: Nokia/Intel
Year introduced: 2010
What it was: Operating system

Different Windows Vista, another operating system on this list, smartphone OS MeeGo was not necessarily a flawed product. Past most accounts, the MeeGo operating organisation just came at the wrong time. Non long subsequently its introduction, the operating system was dropped by and so Nokia CEO Stephen Elop in favor of Windows Phone 7 operating system. Though it has not been used in years, MeeGo may find a 2d life as a tablet operating arrangement.

37. Crystal Pepsi

Company: Pepsi
Twelvemonth introduced: 1992
What it was: Soda

Crystal Pepsi was introduced to soda lovers across the United States in 1992. The product tasted like regular cola but was clear and caffeine free in an endeavour to convey purity and heath. Crystal Pepsi was heavily promoted, with the company even buying an advertising slot during Super Bowl XXVII. Despite strong initial sales, the public'southward interest quickly waned and the soda was discontinued less than two years subsequently its release.

38. Hot Wheels and Barbie computers

Company: Mattel / Patriot Computers
Year released: 1999
What it was: Toy computer

In 1999, Mattel appear that it had entered a licensing agreement to sell Barbie and Hot Wheels computers. The computers would be manufactured and sold by the Patriot Figurer Corporation, a privately held company based in Toronto. The motion was part of an try to reconcile the declining sales of Barbie dolls and growing sales of software and CD-ROMs.

The computers, however, had many manufacturing flaws, and the resources Patriot devoted to fixing and replacing broken computers drove it out of business. By December the following year, the company had fired its 200 employees and filed for bankruptcy.

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39. LaserDisc

Company: Phillips
Year introduced: 1978
What information technology was: Media storage/playback device

LaserDisc was effectively a precursor to the DVD, offering consumers a higher quality moving-picture show and sound than VHS tapes. The production's numerous drawbacks, nonetheless, outweighed any benefits. Different VHS players, LaserDisc players could non tape television shows -- an important feature earlier the days of TiVo. LaserDisc players, as well as LaserDiscs themselves, were also relatively expensive. Introduced in the 1970s, LaserDisc fabricated a brief improvement in the 90s, simply ultimately failed to gain traction.

40. Dreamcast

Company: Sega
Year introduced: 1999 (N America)
What information technology was: Game console

In the 1990s, Sega was a dominant player in the consoles and games business. Sega had such success with its Sonic the Hedgehog games and Genesis panel, that at one point the company held threescore% of the N American market. The Dreamcast launched in 1999 in N America, within a few years of successful predecessors like the Nintendo 64 and Sony Playstation. Many consider the Dreamcast to take been alee of its time -- it was the showtime console to introduce worldwide network compatibility -- just the system only never caught on. Dreamcast sold miserably and was discontinued afterwards just over two years, in role due to the success of the PS2, which launched in 2000. While it was not Sega's but failure, it may have been its most colossal, marking the finish of the visitor'due south attempts at game consoles.

41. S&W Mountain Bikes

Company: Smith & Wesson
Twelvemonth introduced: 2002
What information technology was: Mountain bike

Gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson has been making police bicycles for well-nigh twenty years. The visitor also attempted to sell mountain bikes to the full general public in 2002. Like many other products on this list, the visitor's consumer bike segment likely failed because bicycles were too far beyond the scope of the Smith & Wesson brand and what almost Americans associate with it.

42. Lisa

Company: Apple
Twelvemonth introduced: 1983
What it was: Personal computer

Before Apple striking its stride in the 2000s and became the most assisting corporation in history, the visitor was responsible for some of the worst product flops of all time. Designed as a high-end personal estimator with a graphical user interface for business customers, the Apple Lisa took three years and $50 one thousand thousand to develop before its release in 1983. Withal, the computer's $9,995 price tag, which is equivalent to roughly $25,000 today, was also high for many consumers. Subsequently selling just 100,000 units in two years Apple discontinued the Lisa in 1985.

43. Betamax

Visitor: Sony
Yr introduced: 1975
What it was: Video cassette format

In the early 1970s, videotapes were still a novel applied science, and the VHS tape had all the same to become the standard video cassette format. Sony introduced the Betamax format in 1975, ane yr before JVC introduced the VHS tape. While Betamax tapes had superior resolution and sound quality, Sony refrained from licensing its technology to other manufacturers, in plow limiting the variety of movies bachelor on the format. Meanwhile, JVC licensed its VHS technology to any interested manufacturer. The Betamax's share of the VCR market savage from 100% in 1975 to 10% in 1988, and connected to dwindle in the post-obit years.

44. Too Human

Company: Silicon Knights
Twelvemonth introduced: 2008
What it was: Video game

Released in 2008 after years of costly development delays, "Besides Human" failed to live upward to expectation and became 1 of the worst flops in video game history. A legal ruling eventually removed the game from the market place and pushed Silicon Knights, the game's developer, into bankruptcy. The game's production budget skyrocketed to an estimated $100 meg subsequently the game engine programmer, Epic Games, failed to deliver the engine on time, forcing Silicon Knights to build it own game engine. When Silicon Knights sued Epic Games for missing the deadline, the latter counter-sued, which resulted in a courtroom club forcing the programmer to destroy all unsold copies of the game.

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45. Mobile ESPN

Company: ESPN
Year introduced: 2006
What it was: Mobile phone service

In 2006, ESPN attempted to capitalize on the want of sports fan to have access to sports stats, scores, and video on the go. Mobile ESPN required users to purchase a specific phone, which would include access to ESPN content as part of the subscription. However, the just phone Mobile ESPN offered, a Sanyo, cost $400, and the service was $40 per calendar month, too rich for many sports fans. The service close down within a twelvemonth. Disney, ESPN's parent company, spent $150 million on the failed venture.

46. Life Savers soda

Company: Life Savers
Year introduced: 1995
What information technology was: Soft drinkable

Though Life Savers soda tested well in focus groups, information technology failed to gain traction with the broader consumer marketplace. Many attribute the soft drink'due south failure to the prevailing perception that it was liquid candy. The soda was bachelor in some of the candy's pop fruit flavors, including pineapple, orange dial, grape dial, and lime punch. Life Savers did not release a mint flavored soda, however.

47. Mars Needs Moms

Company: Walt Disney Move
Year introduced: 2011
What it was: Studio film

Released in March 2011, Disney's "Mars Needs Moms" grossed just $6.9 million in its opening weekend. Produced with a $150 one thousand thousand budget, "Mars Needs Moms" was one of the worst flops in movie theater history. Film critics partially blame blitheness studio ImageMovers Digital for the motion-picture show's box part failure. The movie was animated using an expensive motion-capture process, a engineering still in its infancy. According to one viewer, "The movie looked downright creepy." ImageMovers Digital was airtight after the studio wrapped production on the film.

48. EONS

Company: Eons.com
Twelvemonth introduced: 2006
What it was: Social media site

In July 2006, Monster.com founder Jeff Taylor launched Eons.com -- a social network for infant boomers and other net users over the age of 50. According to surveys conducted past Pew Research Center, an estimated 32% of seniors over the age of 65 used the internet at the time of the website's launch compared to 86% of young adults aged 18 to 29. While the share of seniors on the internet has doubled over the past decade, Eons failed to gain traction and was sold to Coiffure Media in 2011.

49. Supertrain

Company: NBC
Year introduced: 1979
What it was: Television set show

When NBC's "Supertrain" premiered in 1979, it was the most expensive Goggle box serial e'er aired. Set aboard a nuclear-powered train that travels between New York City and Los Angeles at speeds nearing 200 miles an hour, the show's product required a model train prepare that cost around $3 1000000 in today'south dollars. The model crashed during its first demonstration, and the testify every bit a whole soon followed. Debuting to poor ratings and negative reviews, "Supertrain" was cancelled afterward just nine episodes.

fifty. Galaxy Annotation vii

Company: Samsung
Year introduced: 2016
What information technology was: Tablet phone

Samsung, which has overtaken Apple in the smartphone market place last twelvemonth, also had one of (the larger and--optional) more contempo product flops. The Note S7, a phablet that launched in August 2016, was initially well received. All the same, it had a serious flaw. A problem with the battery software resulted in the phones catching fire on several occasions, including one time on a SouthWest Airlines flight, which had to be evacuated. Before long, the Department of Transportation fabricated it illegal to bring a Note 7 on a commercial flying. By October, later on an extremely expensive recall, Samsung suspended worldwide production of the Notation seven. The company lost what is estimated to be over $three billion due to the debacle, and Apple tree once more took the pb in the global smartphone market earlier this year.

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Detailed findings and methodology

Hindsight is xx/20, and while many of these gaffes might not have been predictable at the time, the reasons for their failure are often much clearer today. The reasons for the failures oft fall into one of a several categories: overpricing, timing, bad ad, product flaws, and reaching across what consumers of a make are willing to take.

Sometimes products are sold at a premium because they offer features competitors do not, either perceived or actual. When customers exercise non feel a product is superior to another -- rightly and so or not -- they will not pay the premium price. While Apple is able to sell computers at a premium today because of its brand perception, the Lisa, introduced in 1983, failed largely as a upshot of its nearly $ten,000 price tag.

Many of the products on this list could have been perfectly feasible, possibly even a hit, if they had been introduced at a different time. Sega's Dreamcast was the first major console to introduce global network connectivity, but this was before every home had a stable connection fast plenty to make the Dreamcast viable at the time.

For some flops on this list, it appears poor market inquiry doomed these products. McDonald's Arch Deluxe was marketed as a burger for those with refined palates, turning away kids, also as many adults, from the ill-blighted item. Coca-Cola completely misjudged the want of its customers when it inverse its classic flavor and introduced New Coke.

Sometimes, brands overextend their reach, introducing products that disharmonism with their prototype and target demographics. One does non need to dig too deep to empathize why Colgate, a brand associated with toothpaste, failed to make its line of frozen dinner products a success. The same can be said for Cosmopolitan'south brand of yogurt, Smith & Wesson's mountain bike line, or Harley Davidson's perfume.

Of course, many of the products on this list were simply poorly designed or faulty -- at times downright dangerous. Such was the case with Mattel's line of seriously flawed Hot Wheels and Barbie computers, or the Galaxy Annotation 7, plagued past battery fires that acquired the telephone to be banned on airplanes, recalled, and somewhen discontinued.

Despite their disappointing launches, some of these products still exist today. Google's Glass and Google+ each became the butt of jokes later on failing to live up to lofty promises. One day, we may see one of these flops become the product it was meant to be.

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