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Innovation is not about creating a new product; it’s about successfully implementing a new idea and creating value for customers and stakeholders. Many supposedly innovative products have launched and missed the mark; but some were presented as true game-changers that would usher in a new era, generating a massive hype only to bomb.
Yet, in hindsight, these fiascos can still serve as valuable lessons for future innovators on the importance of doing things right: understanding your audience and the gestalt, having real product-market fit, conducting proper testing, avoiding over-selling, and even accepting failure. Let’s take a tour around the graveyard of bungled innovation.
1. Google Glass (2014)
Google Glass was an ambitious wearable technology, worn like a pair of eyeglasses and offering a hands-free way of viewing content and performing tasks. Information like emails, calls, and other notifications was projected on a small screen in the upper corner of the headset’s frame, blending augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR).
Despite its groundbreaking applications in the medical field and innovative potential, Google Glass was a consumer disaster for many reasons: its steep $1,500 price tag; its limited battery life, lasting only around four hours per charge and tending to overheat during use; its clunky design that was meant to be a prototype; and users’ reluctance to walk around with a headset. In March 2023, Google announced that even its Glass Enterprise Edition would be discontinued.
2. Facebook Phone (2013)
With the backing of a global fast-growing platform like Facebook, the HTC First phone, also known as the Facebook Phone, could have been a success story. Replacing the traditional Android phone skin with the all-new Facebook Home software, the HTC First was supposed to be the first phone completely optimised for Facebook… which proved to be a problem.
The social network dominated the device to the detriment of other functionalities, driving away everybody but hard-core Facebook users. What’s more, AT&T was the exclusive carrier for the HTC First, limiting access to its customers, and the device’s hardware was unremarkable for a $99 price tag - which AT&T slashed to 99 cents less than a month after the launch! In the midst of heightened mobile competitions, this was a recipe for failure. Despite Facebook pouring millions into advertising, only 15,000 units were sold before AT&T shut the Facebook Phone down.
3. TiVo (1997)
Digital video recorder TiVo for (for “TV in Video out”) once was the gold standard for content recording. Utilising computer technology to revolutionise television viewing, TiVo allowed viewers to record, store, playback, pause live TV, get recommendations - in short, do pretty much everything that modern streaming now allows us to do at a time when it was thought impossible.
However, unlike Netflix (which also launched in 1997), TiVo was unable to keep up with technological progress and compete first with the cable set-top box industry, and later with more efficient streaming services that came with no ad breaks. Suffice to say that, in mid-2011, Netflix had around 25 million paid subscribers while TiVo had dropped to 2 million, after peaking at 4.4 million in 2007.
4. Segway (2001)
The Segway Personal Transporter, a self-balancing two-wheeled adult scooter developed in complete secrecy, promised to transform individual transportation. However, instead of effortlessly gliding into success, it is now a relic of past marketing flops.
With endorsements from tech giants like Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos, the release of the original Segway PT, which was intensely hyped for a full year through leaks and rumors, only proved underwhelming. Not that, in this case, the technology was at issue - the company sold its product up until 2020. But, suffering from a misaligned marketing strategy building too high expectations and targeting too broad an audience, the Segway struggled to find a distinct market and use case beyond niches like postal delivery workers and police departments. More than 20 years later, pedestrians still use either their feet or one of the many e-scooters that managed to do what Segway could not.
5. Iridium (1998)
Iridium, a satellite-based mobile phone network backed by Motorola, sought to revolutionise global communication with its constellation of 66 satellites providing worldwide wireless phone service. It launched with a whopping $180 million advertising campaign and an opening ceremony featuring then Vice President Al Gore making the first phone call using Iridium.
However, despite its advanced technology and grand ambitions, Iridium’s undoing was inevitable, driven by exorbitant costs ($3,000 for a handset and $3-$8 per minute for calls), impractical handset design, and technological challenges like dropped calls and limited functionality. Poor marketing execution, management issues, and a failure to adapt to changing consumer needs further contributed to this costly debacle. Once a darling of Wall Street, Iridium had spent $5 billion to build and launch its infrastructure of satellites but only had 20,000 subscribers in its first year instead of the 500,000 it had forecast. It filed for bankruptcy in 1999.
6. Apple Newton (1993)
Tablets as we know them today probably wouldn’t be the same had the Apple Newton MessagePad not existed. At a time when handheld computers were limited to sci-fi movies, Apple’s first Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), the Apple Newton MessagePad, had revolutionary features, including handwriting recognition, notes taking, contacts storage - you could even use it to send a fax! And because no other handheld device existed, Apple had to design the whole infrastructure for it, from interface and software to battery and architecture, with one requirement: that it should fit in a pocket.
However, malfunctions in handwriting recognition, which was supposed to be the Newton’s star feature, became the butt of jokes, and expensive ones at that: priced at $700, the PDA couldn’t afford the bad publicity. Steve Jobs himself killed the product once he wrested back control of Apple and moved on to change the world with the iPhone.
7. Quibi (2020)
With almost $2 billion in the bank and a roster of industry veterans in its team (including Jeffrey Katzenberg, former chairman of Disney, and Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay), Quibi (as in “quick bites”) was hoping to disrupt mobile video viewing. With a library of 5-10 minute videos to be watched on-the-go for a $5-$8 monthly subscription, the short-lived streaming service was gunning for an audience spoiled for choice.
Launched right after the Covid-19 pandemic hit and kept people home, rendering its mobile-centric strategy pointless, Quibi had been busy buying and heavily marketing all the content it could get - basically leftovers from Netflix and HBO that were not fit for its format and young target audience anyway. Meanwhile, TikTok was booming virally thanks to content created by this exact same audience. Disconnected from its potential user base, inefficient technologically, lacking problem validation, and far too ambitious for its own good, Quibi was a product that nobody needed. It shut down less than a year after its launch.
8. Zune (2006)
Aiming to compete with the iPod, Microsoft’s Zune could have learned from Apple’s five-year experience with digital music players and the iTunes music marketplace. Yet, somehow, it didn’t.
A repurposed Toshiba MP3 player, the Zune had some functionalities that the iPod lacked, such as the ability to share songs wirelessly. But its design was bulky, unimaginative, and in an unappealing brown color. Second-gen Zunes looked better but by then, it was too little, too late; the iPod was way ahead both technologically and commercially. A third generation with many bells and whistles still didn’t grab users’ attention, sealing the fate of Zune. Its struggle emphasises the significance of strong marketing, good timing, and true innovation in the fiercely competitive consumer electronics market. Interestingly though, while Apple discontinued all its versions of the iPod in 2022, the Zune has become a collector item.
9. WebTV (1996)
In the early days of the Internet, WebTV betted on the fact that people would enjoy being online but not in front of their desktop computer (which, turns out, was a brilliant insight). The start-up envisioned bringing a television-optimised Internet to living rooms thanks to a set-top device allowing users to browse on their TV set.
While innovative at the time and heavily hyped, WebTV struggled to gain traction. The technology didn’t account for usability constraints too severe to overcome despite its optimisation. The web simply isn’t made to be read from afar, loading times were too slow, and responsive websites or dedicated apps were lacking, hindering user experience. In addition, the device’s proprietary setup restricted its adaptability, preventing it from keeping pace with evolving web technologies. This all didn’t keep Microsoft from buying WebTV for an eye-popping $425 million eight months after its launch, changing its name to MSN TV in 2001 and discontinuing it in 2013 to focus on its Xbox console. Still, it’s a wonder that WebTV managed to sustain itself for 17 years.
10. Google+(2011)
When Google launched Google+, it didn’t hide its ambition to outcompete Facebook and Twitter on the social networking market - the new product was even nicknamed the “Facebook killer.” This fourth attempt at creating a successful social networking platform (after Orkut, Friend Connect, and Buzz) was announced to much fanfare, promoting features like customisable profiles, photo and video sharing, and “Circles” for organising friends. For a while, Google+ felt like a success, bringing in 10 million users within two weeks of its unveiling, and 90 million within a year.
However, the platform lacked a clear USP and hardly differentiated itself from Facebook (its “Stream” was basically a Newsfeed and the “+1” button was a Like). Its interface was hard to navigate, with 90% of users not sticking around for more than 5 seconds. The whole project lacked direction, especially after the departure of its founder Vic Gundotra in 2014. Incapable of taking on its main competitor, Google+ received the coup de grace in 2018 when the data of 52.5 million customers was leaked, destroying users’ confidence and leading to its shutdown a year later.
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