Bad Apples: Some of Apple's Most Infamous Products

Does One Bad Apple Spoil the Bunch? Perhaps it doesn't. How about 10 bad apples? Considering the history Apple has had, success doesn't spoil easily. With the recent iPad announcement, the computer manufacturer appears to once again be stepping up to the plate to hit another home run. It doesn't hurt, however, to wonder what happens during quality assurance and product focus testing. Here is a list of some of the bad apples the Apple community cringes at by name.

Apple III: With a cost nearing up to $9,000, the Apple III was the highly successful Apple II's replacement. Problem was, this new computer immediately had three strikes against it. In addition to an outrageous price tag for a personal computer in 1980, the Apple III was plagued with designed flaws including a serious heating problem. Customers reported melting and loose pieces within the computer, due to the absence of a method of air circulation - a fan. The Apple III suffered its third striking blow when a new kid on the block selling computers named IBM moved in.

Apple Lisa: $10,000 is far too much for a home computer. Especially if it is 1983. On the coattails of the failed Apple III, Lisa came to town. The computer itself was nothing spectacular, aside from the user could now compute with a GUI (Graphical User Interface). IBM PCs were selling well, bringing the end to Lisa, and the Lisa II. Legend has it that the overstock of unsold Lisas are buried in a Utah landfill.

Pippen: Apple's "attempt" at entering the video game console market in 1995. The good news: nothing really. The bad news: Sony, Nintendo, and Sega had already cornered the market quite well in both price and a vast software catalogue. The Pippen was expensive, had no titles to offer, and no interest from the gaming community.

Newton: Now an item that has found an afterlife online due to enhancements, this early PDA was big, bulky, and financially out of reach for most users. In 1993 this device was perfect for someone who had a lot of money to throw away, or wasn't worried about abusing the corporate credit card. Not as portable as a modern PDA, this device was comparable to a book and initially failed miserably at one of it's most promising features, handwriting recognition. The famous comic strip "Doonesbury" by Gary Trudeau is known for touting the Newton's flaws.

USB Mouse: In 1998 Apple created what was to be known for eternity as "the hockey puck." It may not be known for sure who exactly said it first, but everyone was on the same page. We even had one at work without the cord that we'd hit around. Designed as a compliment to the iMac, this USB mouse with one big button was extremely awkward to hold and was difficult to use.

QuickTake: Prior to the iPhone having a camera, Apple had another camera on the market in 1994 called the QuickTake. Interestingly, the camera lost the retail battle versus the likes of Kodak, who supplied the QuickTake camera for Apple. As one of the first digital cameras, it was crude by having a resolution of 640x480, no zoom or flash, and it did not offer a standard file format such as JPG to save pictures. Ultimately, within the next year or two, models that slightly improved on these features were released, but by then the camera line had been discontinued.

Power Mac G4 Cube: In the year 2000, Apple once again went for visual style over practicality. The "Cube" was prone to cracks in its own plastic shell, it overheated due to the lack of a fan, and cost more that an equivalent computer that included a monitor. The design lasted about a year before being discontinued.

20th Anniversary Mac: It was either loved, or hated. With an enormous price tag, this computer had sufficient technical specifications for 1997, but the looks that nobody could agree on. It was known to have the futuristic look of a misplaced prop in a dated science fiction movie.