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Apple's Biggest Hardware Flops of All Time

dvdweyer said:
Surely the Mac Pro (2013) should be considered, Apple even admitted its thermal design was a failure in 2017.

Interesting to see that some of the failed products seem to have inspired hugely successful products (Lisa -> Macintosh, Newton -> iPhone, 20th Anniversary Macintosh - iMaC G3).
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This!

The TAM may not have been a "success" (although - I refute that a lot of stock was left over - at $1999 the TAM sold like hotcakes), it's design inspired numerous design decisions in future devices.

And yes, the iPhone was always just a reskinned Newton. Well... kind of... :)

*checks my list of devices... TAM... Cube... Newton... all duds?? Pffff.*
 
docbop said:
The Apple Newton was Apple's answer to the popular Palm Pilot PDA.
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Newton: 1993
Palm 1000 (precursor to Pilot): 1996

The first PDAs (functionally, if not by name) were from Psion in the 1980s but started with a calculator-like device and progressed to mini-clamshells with pretty decent (considering the size) keyboards. Apple pretty much invented the "Newton" format. I think the original article pretty much summed up what went wrong. At the end of the day, the main use of a Newton was for diaries, notes and phone numbers - and a Psion did that for a fraction of the price, without relying on hardwearing revolution... er... self-righting pregcognition... darn!... handwaving refutation... (I wouldn't underestimate how much damage that Doonsbury cartoon did - it would have hit Apple right in the target demographic).

docbop said:
Also they forget to include the Apple Mac server.
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Had a 9 year run, during which the industry changed.
I think the #1 thing that killed it was the widespread uptake and acceptance of Linux as a serious industrial-strength OS and the general move to open IETF ("internet") standards and open-source server software.

Before then, the XServe was a server-grade machine running MacOS X Server which was officially certified Unix (fun fact: MacOS is Unix, Linux isn't Unix - its all about certification and trademark licensing by Open Group) for which Apple didn't charge per-user license fees (unlike many commercial Unixes, MS Windows Server, Novell Knitware etc.) so it really did have a potential market.

Also, when it was launched, the PPC G4 still had some claim to being "better than Intel" - the shine on that wore out quickly, and when the XServe switched to Intel it really became just another Xeon server box.

docbop said:
Not hardware but Apple had it's own version of Unix for awhile called A/UX.
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Apple still has its own version of Unix, called MacOS Ventura: https://www.opengroup.org/openbrand/register/ - it's been that way since the early days of MacOS X.

docbop said:
Installing A/UX on a Mac took almost a full day of feeding floppies to it.
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So did installing Xenix on a PC ~1990 or - a few years later - Linux on anything. Somebody ought to invent a way of storing data on those music CD thingies.

Of course, if you want software flops, then every other flop should kneel at the foot of the collision between trains loaded with burning dumpsters that was Copeland:

Copland (operating system) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

...which is why Mac's today run son-of-NeXTStep.
 
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theluggage said:
Newton: 1993
Palm 1000 (precursor to Pilot): 1996

The first PDAs (functionally, if not by name) were from Psion in the 1980s but started with a calculator-like device and progressed to mini-clamshells with pretty decent (considering the size) keyboards.
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I had 2 Sion clamshells - nice machine. I also had several of teh HP clamshells - they were also nice machines but the keyboard was tiny compared to the Psion.

Still have the dongle for a modem and modem...
theluggage said:
Apple pretty much invented the "Newton" format. I think the original article pretty much summed up what went wrong. At the end of the day, the main use of a Newton was for diaries, notes and phone numbers - and a Psion did that for a fraction of the price, without relying on hardwearing revolution... er... self-righting pregcognition... darn!... handwaving refutation... (I wouldn't underestimate how much damage that Doonsbury cartoon did - it would have hit Apple right in the target demographic).
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Doonsbury pretty much summed up my experience with HWR on the Newton. The 2000 with its keyboard was nice portable device.
 
theluggage said:
At the end of the day, the main use of a Newton was for diaries, notes and phone numbers - and a Psion did that for a fraction of the price, without relying on hardwearing revolution... er... self-righting pregcognition... darn!... handwaving refutation... (I wouldn't underestimate how much damage that Doonsbury cartoon did - it would have hit Apple right in the target demographic).
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Hhahahahaha! Thanks for the laugh 😁

Harsh... but kindof fair I guess! as I know the handwriting recognition just didn't work for many people :)

Newton did pave the way for the current format of smart devices though. Doesn't really seem like 30 years since I first got mine!
 
There are some models missing, Apple is known for its successful models but has several more flops than the handful presented here.

I would add the Macintosh IIfx for one, proposed as the ultimate business computer in the late 80s with its great expansion capabilities and co-processors to speed things up, but ultimately failed due to the very high price and lack of compatible applications to take advantage of the co-processors.

The XServe line of rackmount servers is another one - everything was in its place for a potentially successful IT product, save for the weird choice of relying on desktop processors for server needs.

The trash can Mac Pro belongs on that list as well - great design over function example, but ultimately it was not so much the hardware but the lack of reason to buy such hardware, Apple's lapsed relationship with pro could not be fixed with this weird thing.

The iMac Pro was definitely a flop, it was meant as a stopgap measure due to the absence of a viable Mac Pro replacement for the trash can, whoever thought it was a good idea to go with a built-in display and lack of expansion really should not work in this business.
 
The 20th anniversary Mac was awesome. It didn't need to sell well. It was an aspirational machine, back when such things were needed. Apple could never have made anything like that, affordably. But we used to get articles from time to time with pictures of all these weird and wonderful designs from Frog Design, and we all wondered why Apple couldn't do anything cool. Then it did, and a lot of us were immensely happy even though we couldn't buy it. And no, my opinion wasn't universally held. But neither was the sour opinion of some in the tech press.

I had a Newton 2100 and it did an excellent job of handwriting recognition. It had some poor results early, but either the OS or the hardware was improved because by the time I got one it was pretty damned awesome. The biggest problem from my standpoint was that I wanted to program for the thing, and when I contacted Apple about how to get a developer kit, they really didn't care.
 
crsh1976 said:
There are some models missing, Apple is known for its successful models but has several more flops than the handful presented here.

I would add the Macintosh IIfx for one, proposed as the ultimate business computer in the late 80s with its great expansion capabilities and co-processors to speed things up, but ultimately failed due to the very high price and lack of compatible applications to take advantage of the co-processors.

The XServe line of rackmount servers is another one - everything was in its place for a potentially successful IT product, save for the weird choice of relying on desktop processors for server needs.

The trash can Mac Pro belongs on that list as well - great design over function example, but ultimately it was not so much the hardware but the lack of reason to buy such hardware, Apple's lapsed relationship with pro could not be fixed with this weird thing.

The iMac Pro was definitely a flop, it was meant as a stopgap measure due to the absence of a viable Mac Pro replacement for the trash can, whoever thought it was a good idea to go with a built-in display and lack of expansion really should not work in this business.
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If the iMac Pro was a flop, why do so many people want another? It's a niche product. That's not the same as a flop.

The trash can Mac Pro was sad. It was a design tailored to a future that turned out not to be where the GPU industry went.
 
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The Cappy said:
If the iMac Pro was a flop, why do so many people want another? It's a niche product. That's not the same as a flop.
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Well it's sort of like the Cube, the iMac Pro's black anodized look was really nice and caught everyone's eye, but who actually bought one?
 
Danfango said:
Oh that's fine and all that but when you're in the middle of a working day is usually when it decides to crap out. So you have to plug it in and walk off for a bit and do something else until it's charged enough.

My Logitech, you just plug it in and carry on using it because the hole is on the front

View attachment 2142880
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Lol. It doesn’t decide to crap out in the middle of the day. It warns you for days that the battery is getting low and, sure, if you ignore that warning it eventually craps out. You’re given plenty of time to plug it in and recharge it. It’s not like it suddenly dies with no warning at all.
 
goobot said:
So basically it’s when Apple sells something beyond over priced their product fails. Reminds me of the gold Apple Watch Edition and og homepod. I’m sure the new vr stuff will fall into the same category tbh
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The gold Apple Watch achieved its purpose. Apple almost certainly never expected to sell many of them, but they wanted to position the Watch as a fashion item rather than as a tech item. The gold Watch helped Apple get the attention of design houses and helped get real estate for the Watch at high-end department stores. Apple achieved this in part by giving away gold Watches to celebrities and models, who were then spotted wearing them. Apple knew it could make the Watch more consumer-friendly later, but it could never move in the opposite direction.
 
Patchwork said:
You could add iPod HiFi, the Quicktake 200 Digital Camera (ahead of its time but too expensive and lacking software support) and eWorld to the list. I think by Apple’s standards the original HomePod would be considered a failure too.
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Agree as to all. The iPod HiFi was also a baffling design miss -- it looked ridiculous to have the iPod sitting on top of that thing.
 
maflynn said:
That was and is probably my most favorite Mac of all time
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Many would agree with you about the Cube. There are a few products here that were genuinely amazing even though they were commercial failures. The Cube certainly falls into that category, and I would include Lisa as well. For those of us old enough to remember walking into computer stores and seeing Lisa for the first time, it was jaw-dropping.
 
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opeter said:

At least these guys did put the the USB-C hole in a much more usable location. So you can use you're mouse while it is charging. It's a magical solution! 😍 Oh, and BTW: the mouse can also be wireless charged.

So, if we go back to Apple... Apple just doesn't get it or, in contrary, they like to troll their users/consumers. 😱🤪
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I bought a wireless charging pad and battery pack for the old Magic Mouse and it was a great solution. As for the current iteration, again, this is such a non issue. The mouse warns you for days that it’s getting low. Just plug it in when you’re done for the day. Problem solved. If you ignore all the warnings and choose to completely drain your battery, thats on you. I won’t argue that the charging port on the bottom is a bit odd, but it’s hardly the catastrophe that some people claim. Then again we live in an era of constant complaining about the stupidest little things, so I guess nothing should surprise me.
 
coredev said:
Arguably, yes, the Magic Mouse charging port is a huge form-over-function fail, but with hundreds of millions sold, and at a premium price at that, the Magic Mouse is far from a flop.
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True -- it wouldn't surprise me if the Magic Mouse were one of the most commercially successful mice ever, although Apple badly needs to replace it at this point.
 
Clix Pix said:
Reading this while one hand is on my mousepad, index finger lightly resting on my Magic Mouse II and my other fingers resting on the mousepad, not needing to grip the mouse. The index finger strokes the mouse and voila, scrolling happens... When I do need to do something more, the thumb and second or third finger hold the mouse and the either the index finger or the other finger clicks to create more action, such as right-clicking to bring up a menu.... I have no need for some big bulky mouse bristling with buttons and some sort of doohickey taking up one of my ports, as the MM II and its BT work perfectly fine for me.
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You are comparing the MagicMouse 2 to the original puck mouse design included with the OG iMac. SMH
 
dvdweyer said:
Surely the Mac Pro (2013) should be considered, Apple even admitted its thermal design was a failure in 2017.

Interesting to see that some of the failed products seem to have inspired hugely successful products (Lisa -> Macintosh, Newton -> iPhone, 20th Anniversary Macintosh - iMaC G3).
Click to expand...
Sometimes being the first isn't a good thing.

(I feel like their XR Headset is likely going to fall into the same hole, if the rumors are reasonably accurate—giving people the fit and finish of an Apple product in an emerging market like AR/VR is not going to be cheap, even if they don't try and make their usual profit margins on it. It's just too bulky and compromised a product right now for anyone.)
 
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