The Decade's 25 Biggest Tech Flops

[Nick]

From CNet:by David Carnoy, CNet.com

Here we are just months away from closing out the first decade of the 21st century, which means a lot of publications will soon be in look-back mode, taking stock of all the good--and bad--things that happened over the last 10 years. While we've still got a few months to go before hitting 2010, I thought I should get a head start on the whole best/worst roundup fad that's about to flood the Internet (Time magazine has already done the 10 Biggest Tech Failures of the Last Decade, but it was pretty lame; this one's much better, I swear)...

More @ CNet.com (http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-18438_7-10288870-82.html?tag=rtcol)

[Mark Holtz]

DVD Recorder - Not surprised. There is only one movie that I want to transfer to DVD-R, and that's Only Yesterday. Disney has some issues with that move. Too many movies on DVD without a bug, and we got DVRs.

Sirius/XM - While other people swear by sat radio, I'm not spending $14.95 per month when my commute is too short and there are CDs and MP3 players.

HD Radio - Same thing second verse same as the first.

UMD - It was too easy to rip and play the movies from the DVDs.

[Steve Mehs]

I have to seriously disagree with Sirius XM. While not in the best financial shape, they do have upwards of 20 million paying subscribers. Not exactly what I'd call a flop.

HD Radio - Digital radio run by the same idiots who run FM radio, yeah like that is a good thing. It was a failure before it was ever created.
Dreamcast - A gaming machine that was a head of its time

DVD Recorders - Had no chance since DVRs came on to the scene shortly after the death of VHS.

Aibo - I always wanted one!

Hi Rez Audio Formats - I blame the RIAA for lack of content available on SACD and DVD-A

Segway - Seriously what dumbass ever thought these things would ever be used by more than a dozen people on the planet? I've seen one in my life, at some dinky mall in I forget where there was one parked outside the security office.

HD DVD - I still get warm and fuzzy feelings when I think about the demise of that format. The red is dead, blu came thru!

[DodgerKing]

HD DVD - I still get warm and fuzzy feelings when I think about the demise of that format. The red is dead, blu came thru!

We bought one right when they were going under. We ended up getting like 15 free HD movies, so it more than paid for itself. We use our HD DVD player to play SD and HD DVDs so we can save our PS3 from over use. Use the PS3 to play BR and Games.

[durl]

While I'm sure I'd enjoy having satellite radio, I can't bring myself to pay for it. I travel very little and there's a good variety of radio stations in my area. Now, if SiriusXM were to offer the service to Directv customers for an additional $1-2 per month I would strongly consider subscribing.

Segway - it will be used in college marketing courses for years to come as an example of how NOT to introduce a product. They teasers about a new, innovative product that changed the way the world would travel made us all believe they'd found a way to power a vehicle with tap water...life would NEVER be the same for any of us! Actually, it ended up being a $5000 battery-powered, stand-up scooter. If they had introduced it differently (say, as a really cool battery-powered, stand-up scooter) it might have done better.

[BubblePuppy]

I have to seriously disagree with Sirius XM. While not in the best financial shape, they do have upwards of 20 million paying subscribers. Not exactly what I'd call a flop.

HD Radio - Digital radio run by the same idiots who run FM radio, yeah like that is a good thing. It was a failure before it was ever created.
Dreamcast - A gaming machine that was a head of its time

DVD Recorders - Had no chance since DVRs came on to the scene shortly after the death of VHS.

Aibo - I always wanted one!

Hi Rez Audio Formats - I blame the RIAA for lack of content available on SACD and DVD-A

Segway - Seriously what dumbass ever thought these things would ever be used by more than a dozen people on the planet? I've seen one in my life, at some dinky mall in I forget where there was one parked outside the security office.

HD DVD - I still get warm and fuzzy feelings when I think about the demise of that format. The red is dead, blu came thru!

I've seen alot of these use in theme parks, Disney World comes to mind, malls,etc. Usually used by security. But I agree, a great idea but that just never caught on with the general public.
Now bring on the flying cars.;)

[Fontano]

I 95% disagree with the Dreamcast being on that list.

The 5% that I agree with, was the Dreamcast security mechanism.
Once that was cracked, and it was astronomically easy to download the games from the internet, that spelt the end for the Dreamcast as Sega had absolutely no way to stop it.

The dreamcast was so far ahead of the curve, if it wasn't for that, I think it still would e a dominant system today.

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Segways, they still hae their niche and do serve a purpose, but they are still so over price that vast majority of people can even think about it as an option.

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I actually enjoy HD Radio. But I think it's problem is that simply no one is going to replace their car radio (where face it, that is where most people now listed to broadcast radio) unless they have a reason to. But it isn't "HD" it is just digital. I am enjoying (since I replaced my radio), as I do like some of the sub stations, and some of the AM sports stations are broadcasting on the 2nd channel on the FM side now.

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Cable Card was 10 years too late. The concept is sound, and should have been here a LONG time ago.
Standardaize and interface, allow people to rent/purchase the security mechanism and there you go.

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Can HD-DVD be considered a FLOP? It lost a format war, but I can't really call it a flop.
I think the idea of Optical HD medium will probably ultimately be considered a flop, as it is still way more expensive then the alternatives.

[Fontano]

HD DVD - I still get warm and fuzzy feelings when I think about the demise of that format. The red is dead, blu came thru!

It was all about the money in that battle, not the technology.

Sony managed to sway just enough of the power hitters, and it didn't help that they held the cards for several movie studios.

So I find it hard to call it a technology flop, but more of a business one.

[njblackberry]

Segway is #1 on my list. Cool to ride on, by the hype surrounding the release was over the top.

[Cholly]

Sirius/XM - We have 4 XM radios in our household: a built-in one in my Santa Fe, a Roady in my son's pickup, a Roady with home adapter in my bedroom and a Yamaha HT receiver with built-in XM in the great room (with channel B speakers on the patio). They all get plenty of use. I was surprised to see the smaller Sirius purchase XM, particularly in light of the Howard Stern debacle. Although Stern is very popular with young adult males and Sirius banked on that popularity to expand its subscriber base, having him has turned out to be a huge financial burden. For NASCAR fans, having Sirius steal NASCAR radio away from XM and not include it as part of the shared content after the merger, it's a bitter situation.

Segway - Not really a flop, but rather a niche item. They run Segway tours in many cities worldwide - http://www.segwayguidedtours.com/
Many police forces use Segways, the USPS has experimented with them and may be using them in large cities, and many companies use them in their offices or plants. Granted, they aren't all that popular as individual "people movers".

HD DVD - Here's another case of great technology being killed off by giant gorillas with big wallets. The combination of Sony and Disney supporting only Blu-ray caused the other studios and equipment manufacturers to abandon HD DVD. Sony was still smarting over the adoption of the (Toshiba/JVC) VHS tape format over its Beta format, and was determined to pay Toshiba back.

[naijai]

HD DVD - Here's another case of great technology being killed off by giant gorillas with big wallets. The combination of Sony and Disney supporting only Blu-ray caused the other studios and equipment manufacturers to abandon HD DVD. Sony was still smarting over the adoption of the (Toshiba/JVC) VHS tape format over its Beta format, and was determined to pay Toshiba back.


Can HD-DVD be considered a FLOP? It lost a format war, but I can't really call it a flop.
I think the idea of Optical HD medium will probably ultimately be considered a flop, as it is still way more expensive then the alternatives.


I agree HD-DVD wasn't a flop just strategic withdrawal from a market that decided to pick a different format over the other.

I still say sony paid lots of mula to Warner to choose blu over red

[Steve Mehs]

I actually enjoy HD Radio. But I think it's problem is that simply no one is going to replace their car radio (where face it, that is where most people now listed to broadcast radio) unless they have a reason to. But it isn't "HD" it is just digital. I am enjoying (since I replaced my radio), as I do like some of the sub stations, and some of the AM sports stations are broadcasting on the 2nd channel on the FM side now.

Your point holds no water. People don't want HD Radio. About 20 million people have replaced their radios or bought plug and play receivers to be able to listen to satellite radio, and AFAIK, 1 million HD Radio units haven't even been produced yet, according to an article from a while back. It's pretty evident that people have no problem upgrading their radios, they just don't want to listen to the same spoonfed crap they get on normal FM but in CD quality sound. HD is a marketing gimmick, the terrestrial radio losers were playing the letters HD to make it sound all cool and better. Kinda like another massive terrestrial radio failure, AM Stereo.

There's plug and play receivers out there that are just like satellite receiver, but no ones buying them. HD Radio = Failure.

It was all about the money in that battle, not the technology.

Sony managed to sway just enough of the power hitters, and it didn't help that they held the cards for several movie studios.

So I find it hard to call it a technology flop, but more of a business one.


HD DVD should have been aborted in the womb. It was destined to be a failure. Sony and the rest of the BDA should have just paid off all the major studios at the beginning and killed HD DVD off right from the get go. But it was fun watching that pathetic format limp along for a few years and watch the fanboys froth at the mouth of that doomed technology. Only to say 'Ha Ha Told ya so' Oh man, I'm about to piss myself just thinking about the HD DVD demise again. Very happy day for me.

[Mark Holtz]

Here is a interesting tie-in article from TheStreet:

Five Tech Stocks That Won't Survive Another DownturnA combination of crippling debt, heavy losses and unfashionable products are three big strikes against these five stocks: Sirius XM, Procera, Clearwire, Advanced Micro Devices, and Eastman Kodak.

The slouching economy hasn't done these teetering firms any favors. And whether the blame lies with the recession or simple frugality, neither companies nor consumers have shown much interest in spending money on tech.FULL ARTICLE HERE (http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/story/10554423/1/five-tech-stocks-that-wont-survive-another-downturn.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA)

As of this writing, Sirius XM is trading at .43 cents per share. That is NOT considered investment grade stock. In addition, the recommendation from TheStreet is to "SELL" this stock. Also, not a good sign.

As for HD-DVD, remember, there was a attempt prior to the release of both formats in 2005 to have one HD standard and avoid the format war. The talks broke down, and BluRay, sponsored by Sony, started the HD format war.

As for Verizon Wireless... don't know what your experience was, but I would rather deal with Verizon than with AT&T Wireless. (No, I am not saying that you are with AT&T, only that AT&T is a big wireless carrier along with Verizon.) The fun part is seeing articles such as the ones from Betanews where iPhone users turn against AT&T (http://www.betanews.com/article/The-tipping-point-iPhone-users-turn-against-ATT/1248204244) or NeoWin article on how a Survey says 34% won't buy the iPhone 3GS because of AT&T (http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/07/22/survey-says-34-wont-buy-the-iphone-3gs-because-of-att). I've had co-workers who spent hours on the phone with AT&T dealing with problems.

[houskamp]

HD radio, just what you need in a noisy, plastic car on a highway..

It's sad that HDDVD died.. now with sony sucking money from sales the disks will stay high priced much longer.. not to mention the more expensive cost to produce them..

[Stewart Vernon]

Blu ray was the better storage capacity medium... but HD-DVD integrated more of the interactive technology + was easier to reproduce using modified existing DVD replication lines.

I think the right technology ultimately "won"... but it really was never about what the consumer wanted... and was about the private backers paying to make it happen.

If left to consumers, I suspect both technologies could have survived... but consumer choice NEVER was a factor because all movies were not available in both formats.

People can, for the most part, choose between Ford and Chevy or between Playstation and X-Box and get mostly the same options... but that just never was given to the consumers for Blu ray and HD-DVD, so we'll never really know what the average consumer would have chosen in the long run.

That said... I don't know why some folks take such pleasure at some failures. I'm fairly indifferent to it myself.

[Zellio]

That list is crap.

Yeah blu ray won, after Sony began buying off movie companies to use bluray.

Tell me, how is Sony doing today?

[Zellio]

Blu ray was the better storage capacity medium... but HD-DVD integrated more of the interactive technology + was easier to reproduce using modified existing DVD replication lines.

I think the right technology ultimately "won"... but it really was never about what the consumer wanted... and was about the private backers paying to make it happen.

If left to consumers, I suspect both technologies could have survived... but consumer choice NEVER was a factor because all movies were not available in both formats.

People can, for the most part, choose between Ford and Chevy or between Playstation and X-Box and get mostly the same options... but that just never was given to the consumers for Blu ray and HD-DVD, so we'll never really know what the average consumer would have chosen in the long run.

That said... I don't know why some folks take such pleasure at some failures. I'm fairly indifferent to it myself.

I know I take pleasure in the opposite: Sony's continuing demise. Perhaps those payments to make bluray the dominant high def dvd could've been used to buy the brainpower required to not make stupid decisions like the PS3 and lose 1 billion in a quarter?

[djlong]

Remember, Toshiba was paying big bucks to companies to release their movies in HD-DVD as well. It's not like Sony was the only one dishing out the 'incentives'. Michael Bay was FURIOUS that "Transformers" was going to come out in HD instead of Blu (at the time) when the announcements were made.

[rebkell]

Blu ray was the better storage capacity medium... but HD-DVD integrated more of the interactive technology + was easier to reproduce using modified existing DVD replication lines.

I think the right technology ultimately "won"... but it really was never about what the consumer wanted... and was about the private backers paying to make it happen.

If left to consumers, I suspect both technologies could have survived... but consumer choice NEVER was a factor because all movies were not available in both formats.


Less and less is left to the consumers, the bigger guys keep winning or buying what they need to stomp out the competition. I consider the sat providers and cable providers are doing the same thing, it would be nice to pay for the programming we actually want, but we don't have that choice, we have to take whatever bundles the providers decide on. We can't get a lot of stations we want because the big boys are squabbling and nitpicking over pricing, but the consumer has no real say so in any of it. Sorry for getting off topic, but blu-ray won the battle and now they'll keep the prices up there because there isn't any other alternative.

[Steve Mehs]

It's sad that HDDVD died.. now with sony sucking money from sales the disks will stay high priced much longer.. not to mention the more expensive cost to produce them..

That is just a typical BS argument used by the HD DVD crowd, actually the anti Sony crowd. It's not like Blu Ray is the only format, there still is regular DVDs. Before Blu Ray won, I bought One Missed Call on BD for $28 at WalMart, looking at Amazon now I can get new releases for $21-$23, or about $6 or $7 more than the same movie on DVD. Prices are falling. I remember the first DVD I ever bought, The Negotiator with Samuel L Jackson at Target in 2000 for almost $30, it was $20 on VHS. Blu Ray prices are falling at the same rate if not faster than DVDs in the early days. It still will be a while before we see new releases in the under $20 price range, but the days are getting closer, so no you are incorrect prices will not stay high as prices have already dropped considerably. And why for the love of God does every one equate Blu Ray with Sony. Apple, Samsung, HP, Philips and a bunch of other hardware manufacturers are also part of the BDA and have helped with the evolution of the format and developed the standards.

[Stewart Vernon]

I actually have seen some Blu ray prices coming down... Granted, the MSRPs are still insanely high, but fortunately no one (ok, Borders and a few companies) sell at MSRP. Also, if you can wait a few weeks there are lots of good movies that can be had cheaper than on release day.

I'm not sure competition with HD-DVD would have gotten prices much lower than some of the sales I've seen recently... but just like there's room for multiple different incompatible gaming systems, I'm sure HD-DVD and Blu-ray could have co-existed IF movie studios made movies for both formats and let consumers truly choose.

Both sides of the "war" played games with the market such that we'll never know what would have happened if consumers tried and had the opportunity to try both.

Meanwhile, I have my combo player and can play both my old HD-DVD and my new Blu ray movies so I'm happy :)