iConic Steve Jobs stepped down as CEO of Apple Inc to end an era of success for the company. In his career, he introduced the world to some incredibly designed popular products as we have already seen on The Geeks Club. As every coin has two sides, so does the glorious tale of Steve Jobs. Here we try to list out 5 of his products that failed to stimulate the world.
Apple III
In 1977, When Apple II became commercial hit, Steve Jobs decided to continue the legacy of 8-bit computers with Apple III. It took research of 2 years when Apple III was officially made available in 1980. However, due to serious stability problems, all the sold products were called back and Apple III was re-marketed in autumn of same year with tweaks in design.
The product was commercial failure which made Apple Computers stop its production in 1984. There were two main reasons for failure of Apple III; first being introduction of IBM computers and second being price tag of Apple III.
During similar timeline, IBM introduced world with 16-bit personal computers running on MS-DOS platform. These IBM machines were way inexpensive than that of Apple III, which used to cost around $7,800. Being too limited in terms of software library, the product was not at all valued for its price.
Lisa
Lisa, developed during 1980’s, was personal computer with GUI. It was designed by keeping business customers in mind and thus had mouthwatering features as compared to its contemporaries. Launched on 19th January 1983, Lisa was much more advanced than that of Macintosh and featured protected memory, disk based OS, capacity of 2 MB RAM, Motorola 68000 Processor clocked at 5 MHz and time sharing capability.
However, the product was price tagged at $9,995, which was too much expensive for even users from business class. Undoubtedly, it was commercial failure and Apple Computers discontinued it by 1986.
Apple Puck Mouse
In 1998, Apple Inc was experiencing taste of success, thanks to iMac. At that time, Apple used to ship round shaped puck mouse along with iMac. Many tech experts consider it as the worst product designed by Apple ever.
Being too small and round, hockey puck mouse was difficult to hold. It featured very short cord that made its use more uncomfortable. It is must to mention that it was first ever mouse to feature USB connectivity rather than traditional ADB.
Power Mac G4 Cube
One of the eye-catching products from Apple, Power Mac G4 Cube, failed to grab user’s attention in 2000. The product got customers for period of mere a year, when Apple Inc stopped its sale.
Very first reason of Cube’s failure was its price tag, which was $1,800. It was higher than Power Mac G4 that featured incredible configuration with 64 MB RAM and 20 GB storage. Second reason was lack of upgrade option. This 8 x 8 x 8 inches sized cube was refurbished with CD-ROM and optional nVidia graphics upgrade. Alas, it failed to attract customers and production was stopped in 2001. The Cube has its own place now in Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Apple TV
Apple Inc was riding over the success when the ride was interrupted by Apple TV. Product was first introduced to the world in 2007 as content streamer. First few weeks after the launch, Apple TV was sold like hot-cake. However, it ended up being one of the failures of Steve Jobs, who created this product out of hobby.
Reasons for failure of Apple TV were very clear. Firstly, the fate of product was in hands of content providers and not manufacturers. Apple Inc couldn’t come up with feasible deals with that of content owners. Secondly, it was limited video format support that restricted Apple TV from being commercial hit. Latest Apple TV update is dated in 2010 that costs around $99.
… and yes … can one forget iTunes Phone!?
Now have a look at the success stories from Apple!
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