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Fifty-three old tech products that were supposed to change everything, and faded into history instead. LaserDisc, Betamax, the RCA SelectaVision, Circuit City's disposable DIVX discs, the Kodak Disc camera, the Iomega Zip drive, WebTV, the Apple Newton, the Zune, the Segway, Google Glass, the Coleco Adam, the Timex Sinclair 1000, the IBM PCjr, the Apple Lisa, the answering machine on the kitchen counter, the beeper on your belt, the AOL discs in the mailbox, the GPS stuck to your windshield, and the Palm Pilot that everybody owned and nobody remembers owning.
Almost none of these failed because the engineering was bad. They failed because of timing, pride, boardroom fear, and a world that moved six inches to the left. If you grew up with a dot matrix printer screaming in the next room and a Sears catalog on the coffee table, this countdown was made for you.
Prices are in US dollars, as advertised at launch. Figures for losses, write-offs and unit sales are drawn from contemporary press coverage, corporate filings and the reference sources listed below.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaserDisc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIVX https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Newton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Boy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segway_PT
The New York Times, technology and business archives, 1981 to 2015 Wired magazine, cover story on the Motorola ROKR E1, November 2005 Consumer Reports, product testing archives, 1982 to 1999 BYTE magazine, hardware reviews and industry reporting, 1981 to 1995 Corporate annual reports and shareholder filings, RCA, Kodak, Iomega, Palm, Hewlett Packard and Toshiba.
You can contact me at: thefatalboard@proton.me
This channel is made by an enthusiast who loves business and technology history — nothing more. All videos are for educational and entertainment purposes only and reflect my personal views and interpretations. I research each story carefully using publicly available sources, but errors or omissions can happen. Nothing here is professional, financial, or legal advice, and this channel is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any company mentioned.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb0ps9eCp0y6yP1Xg4sDDFw?sub_confirmation=1
Fifty-three old tech products that were supposed to change everything, and faded into history instead. LaserDisc, Betamax, the RCA SelectaVision, Circuit City's disposable DIVX discs, the Kodak Disc camera, the Iomega Zip drive, WebTV, the Apple Newton, the Zune, the Segway, Google Glass, the Coleco Adam, the Timex Sinclair 1000, the IBM PCjr, the Apple Lisa, the answering machine on the kitchen counter, the beeper on your belt, the AOL discs in the mailbox, the GPS stuck to your windshield, and the Palm Pilot that everybody owned and nobody remembers owning.
Almost none of these failed because the engineering was bad. They failed because of timing, pride, boardroom fear, and a world that moved six inches to the left. If you grew up with a dot matrix printer screaming in the next room and a Sears catalog on the coffee table, this countdown was made for you.
Prices are in US dollars, as advertised at launch. Figures for losses, write-offs and unit sales are drawn from contemporary press coverage, corporate filings and the reference sources listed below.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaserDisc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIVX https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Newton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Boy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segway_PT
The New York Times, technology and business archives, 1981 to 2015 Wired magazine, cover story on the Motorola ROKR E1, November 2005 Consumer Reports, product testing archives, 1982 to 1999 BYTE magazine, hardware reviews and industry reporting, 1981 to 1995 Corporate annual reports and shareholder filings, RCA, Kodak, Iomega, Palm, Hewlett Packard and Toshiba.
You can contact me at: thefatalboard@proton.me
This channel is made by an enthusiast who loves business and technology history — nothing more. All videos are for educational and entertainment purposes only and reflect my personal views and interpretations. I research each story carefully using publicly available sources, but errors or omissions can happen. Nothing here is professional, financial, or legal advice, and this channel is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any company mentioned.
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