Ten Apple Products that Bombed Out

As with any product manufacturing company, we see great products as well as products that did not meet public's needs. Apple is no different in their pursuit of providing quality consumer electronic to the masses. There have been some great winning ideas brought to the consumers as well as some that Apple hopes we would all forget about and never mention again. In the world that we live in companies are defined more and more by the bad products they tried to introduce, and it seems that we as a whole forget about all the products that meet our expectations. I did some exploring down memory lane in regards to the 10 worst products that Apple has produced. I feel that most would agree with my list.

I start with the product Lisa; this was the first computer to run the GUI (Graphical User Interface). It was ultimately a disaster because Apple was trying to compete against IBM in an attempt to enter into the business world and this unit was just too costly. The Apple III was also a blot on Apple's reputation, but the Lisa received more recognition for the lack of power that it provided in comparison to IBM computers running business software. NASA ended up being the largest purchaser of the LISA, but they had issues with the OS crashing on them and had to scrap the unit. Apple even offered to buy these units back so long as the user purchased the new Macintosh Plus.

The Apple Newton is another device that was in the works before its time. The original sticker price for this item was $1000. For this price, you were promised hard writing translation that just never seemed to work too well. Unfortunately, once the software caught up with the technology to properly translate hand written notes, the public already had a bad taste in their mouth and Apple's Newton had a bad reputation.

Apple TV? Who even heard of this product? This is another example of a product that was taken off the shelf of the electronics store almost before it ever reached the store. People found that this device (an early multimedia storage device) had no space a large ticket price and was just too much of a hassle in the long run. Now we all use DVR's via our Cable Company or TiVo that record all of our programs.

One version of the Macintosh is the Macintosh Portable. This was not a laptop, but more of a computer with handles. Weighing at more than 16lbs... Yes, that is POUNDS! This briefcase unit was over priced and under performing. With 1MB of Ram and a black and white LCD, this unit left a lot to be desired. Try adding this to your carry-on luggage at the airport today; I dare you!

The Pippin was Apple's attempt to join the gaming industry. This unit just could not compete with Sony and Nintendo, as well as others that were half the sticker price.

Cyberdog was another product that just could not gain a following. This product was Apple's answer to Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. The problem was that this open source product used up all the memory on your computer. The software also saved documents in formats that were not compatible with other applications.

The Apple Puck (the nickname of their mouse) because the mouse looks like a hockey puck, was a disaster. Hard enough to find the one button and orient the mouse in the correct direction, the "puck" style mouse was also horrible for ergonomics and people just could not grab the mouse, orient themselves the correct way and click quickly...so consumers said goodbye puck!

The Apple III was probably one of the earliest blunders but thanks to the LISA people don't remember it as much. I think that the only remember able part of the Apple III was the price tag. At $4000, this unit just could not compete with the PC's of IBM in the business market.

Yet another product that went down in flames due to the price was the 20^th Anniversary Mac. At $7499, this unit was selling for $1999 a year later. With such a high price and when PC's were selling for $1000 - $1200 with more speed and more options, this unit just could not get a following

Which bring me to the end of my list of failures from Apple. The 10^th item on my list is the Apple IPOD Hi-Fi. Seems that the most common denominator when a product is classified as being a "worst" product is an absorb rant price tag. The iPod Hi-Fi was no exception with an original asking price of $349.00.

Please let me know of other products that you think should have made this list. As it is kind of fun walking down memory lane.