Apple have a hugely dedicated following. As soon as any new Apple gadget comes out, most self-respecting Apple fans all too happily flash about their credit cards to purchase a slice of exclusivity, and finely manufactured productory. Despite such a hardcore fan base some Apple gadgets do fail to hit the ground running so to speak. We look at 5 Apple products that totally fell on their faces, and some you may not even remember.
1. Power Mac G4 Cube
Looks pretty nice right? Unfortunately the cube stalled after release, due to issues with manufacturing process of the clear surround and pricing issues. It did however have a cool, convection based cooling system which was completely fan-less! It is seen by many as a pre-cursor to the Mini. The cube shipped with a 450Mhz cpu, a whopping 64mb of Ram & a large 20GB HD.
2. Motorola Rokr
The Motorola Rokr, released in 2005 was an Apple – Motorola tie up, intending to bring iTunes to a phone. The phone was widely expected, but was restricted to only 100 songs at a time (probably so it wouldn’t compete with iPods), and slow transfer times it failed to take off. Motorola relations were strained when Apple then released the Nano and, in Motorola’s words “undercut them”.
3. Apple Newton
Officially, the MessagePad 2000 (running Newton OS) was one of the first PDA’s when it was released way back in 1993. Behind the scenes, you could crunch some serious numbers & notes with a 20mhz process and 640k of ram. The newton let you send faxes, emails, write notes, keep your contacts organized and even ‘recognise hand written words’. A $1000 price tag, as-well as poor ergonomics lead to this device’s eventual failure in 1998. Still, I’m sure Apple learned a lot from this device and were able to apply what they had learned on the iPhone – which interestingly is almost the exact opposite of the newton (fairly priced, pretty small e.t.c)
4. Apple Pippin
The Apple Pippin was released in 1995, in association with Bandai. The Pippin was powered by a 66-MHz PowerPC 603 processor, a 14.4 kbit/s modem and ran a stripped version of the System 7.5.2 operating system. It was designed as a machine that could play multimedia CD’s, as well as working as a network computer. It even had a standard video output so as to work with a TV set. By the time the Pippin was released, the market already had the Sega Saturn, PlayStation & the Nintendo 64. Only 42,000 units sold (at $599), and it became true that there were actually more accessories manufactured than the units themselves.
5. AppleEWorld
AppleEworld was an online subscription service touted by Apple. The services included email (eMail Center), news, and a bulletin board system (Community Center). It was created in association with AOL. The Eworld was based around the concept of a town, with each building offering a different service such as a learning center or newsroom.Poor marketing and high prices killed Eworld off.
Let us know whether you agree on our top 5 ‘failures’. Have you owned one? Any of the current Apple product line you think are ‘failures’?
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Jackson September 21, 2009
Wow! Ghetto!
I love it, great memories.
Carol Davids September 21, 2009
I used to want a Cube so badly. They look(ed) so cool. I suppose it was worth the wait for my myriad of Apple swag that I now own.
Grant Hutchinson September 21, 2009
I’d like to clarify a couple of things you’ve mentioned about the Newton.
Officially, the Newton wasn’t “one of the first PDA’s” … it was, and still is, the only true “PDA”. The term “Personal Digital Assistant” was coined by John Sculley in direct reference to the Newton platform’s intelligent, assistive technologies. This is something that no other commercial computing platform has come close to matching, in terms of ease of use or adaptability.
Secondly, I take issue with your statement that the Newton was a “failure”. True, it never achieved the mass-market success of similar, yet differently executed devices such as the Palm Pilot. However, I would argue that the Newton didn’t fail at all. Technologically, it did what the platform set out to do … and did it very well. It was developed and improved over the course of five years, taking advantage of increasingly more powerful hardware as it became available. It certainly achieved a status within the consumer and corporate communities and is currently appreciated as an innovative and still unrivaled (in many aspects) computing platform.
A failure? Hell, no.
A less successful Apple product that was killed just as it was getting some traction? Absolutely.
Last of all, “poor ergonomics” were never a factor in the Newton’s ultimate demise. Yes, it was a larger device compared to a Palm Pilot, but larger does not equate to “poor ergonomics”.
Try doing a bit more research next time and get your facts straight.
Andrew September 24, 2009
I’m sore they’ll totally do more research on your personal and subjective opinions of the newton before they release their next article about it.
John S. October 2, 2009
Get off your high horse! You’re probably a sad moron that rushed out and purchased one for a $1000, right? Sucker!!!
GENGHIS September 21, 2009
Your comments regarding the Apple Newton are inaccurate. The Messagepad 2000 was the sixth in an evolutionary line of PDAs. The MP2000 was released in 1997. The specifications you quote are for the original MessagePad.
You are correct that compared to expectations, they didn’t sell in the volumes Apple expected but still outsold the the original Apple computer in its first year.
Apple chose to disregard the market research and tried to promote it as a product with mass appeal when it should have focused on vertical market applications.
In the end several hundred thousand were sold.
Ben September 25, 2009
With regards to the Newton its nice to see people pull us up on stuff we’ve missed / got wrong. Cheers guys!
mitchell April 30, 2010
wow!!