Apple's Biggest Hardware Flops of All Time

[ozaz]

These days Apple is associated with the iPod, iPhone, iPad, MacBook – game-changing products so wildly successful that they have changed the way we live

In what way is/was MacBook game-changing?
Successful, yes. But I don't know how it can be considered game-changing.

 

[JosephAW]

Yes but Flynn in Tron movie used an Apple iii to hack into the mcp.

 

[Pokeymon]

Still have my MacintoshTV

We bought one for our son in the middle '90s. Seemed like a great solution for the college-bound, living in a small dorm room. Worked well for him. Wish we still had it now. Have you seen the prices for these on Bay ?

 

[I7guy]

HomePod

No, not the level of the iPhone, but not a dud.

 

[dbenesch]

Some of the worst products aren't mentioned (all from the non-Jobs 90s era):

Power Mac 5200 LC - had several major flaws, not the least of which was a bad ROM/cache that caused frequent crashing and incompatibility with Open Transport. Apple issued a recall and had to replace the ROM/cache. Also had problems with network speed and memory bandwidth due to design flaws.
Apple Color Printer - Apple's pre-Stylewriter inkjet was a beast that printed 11x17 via a SCSI connection, but had major reliability problems and consistently leaked ink.
AppleVision 1710AV - A great monitor on spec (high quality 17" Trinitron with speakers), but suffered significant reliability issues that required full replacement each time.

 

[t0rqx]

Follow the red line in all of these products and you see what mistake they keep making in their current and future products. Why not mention recent products that are faulty in modern days?

 

[Gudi]

Kevin Costner could sell me anything. I love that Steve Jobs handpicked him to represent a Lisa user. Macintosh TV is how I use all my iMacs. And the Cube is a wonderful design, even by today's standards. It highlights everything that's wrong with the Mac Studio, uninspired lump of aluminium.

 

[chucker23n1]

ITT: people who use "flop" to mean "product I didn't like" rather than "product whose sales were far below expectations".

 

[dawindmg08]

Say what you will about the 90's era hardware, but I kind of miss it. There was something tactile and cool about handling a device made of that dark grey plastic, and you wanted one even if it didn't work well. The 20th Anniversary Mac was actually really COOL when it came out -- the high price just made it seem more exotic and desirable. I know peeps who bought them just to put in the lobby of their business as a status symbol. It only looks dumb and overpriced by modern standards.

And how can you talk about the Cube without talking about the failures in the manufacturing process? That clear plastic case would show CRACKS after a while. Everyone who owned one was super pissed off about this. It was one of the early casualties of their insane quest to keep things small and fan-less while denying the underlying thermal requirements; it was like a harbinger of the Mac Pro trashcan debacle.

 

[boyarka]

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.

I don't agree. I still have the HiFi and it'd a very, very useful speaker. Unlike too many other speakers sold nowdays (specifically the over-complicated bull**** called Sonos) it was useful when it was launched and is still useful today.
The "flop" is apple's mistake - they could just push it, adding BT, wifi, then Pod like features etc.

 

[nkgmd]

That was actually an outstanding strategic move by Apple, even though the device sucked.

Working with Motorola, one of the three leaders in cellular telecom (MEN - Motorola, Ericsson, Nokia), Apple gained a ton of knowledge about cellular telephony in general, and handsets specifically. Knowledge that would have taken many years to acquire on their own (assuming Apple had the right kind of systems engineers on staff).

Engaging with Motorola on ROKR was a shrewd move by Jobs.

I don't disagree, you could easily make the point that every one of the missteps mentioned here was a learning experience that resulted in a smarter company capable of making better products. But I'll never forget the announcement of it at MacWorld I think, you could just hear it in Steve's voice that he really hated this thing. There was no enthusiasm. It was like "well, this is happening now, so whatever, don't blame me..."

 

[citysnaps]

I don't disagree, you could easily make the point that every one of the missteps mentioned here was a learning experience that resulted in a smarter company capable of making better products. But I'll never forget the announcement of it at MacWorld I think, you could just hear it in Steve's voice that he really hated this thing. There was no enthusiasm. It was like "well, this is happening now, so whatever, don't blame me..."

I look at it as Apple paying dues to instantly getting essential knowledge from very experienced Motorola cellular telecom/communications systems engineers that Apple had pretty much no chance of otherwise getting.

 

[nkgmd]

Yes but Flynn in Tron movie used an Apple iii to hack into the mcp.

Ranks up there with Jeff Goldblum using an iBook to hack into an alien space ship

 

[jicon]

They’ve got the best touchpads in the industry, and without doubt the worst mice. I don’t understand the consistent win vs failure.

Those butterfly keyboard troubles should have been reminiscent of traditional Apple Rev A hardware troubles, but they arrogantly tried to make that one work for years before giving in.

 

[ninethirty]

Wow! I was not expecting Power Mac G4 Cube to make the list. What??? 😖

Why would you not expect that? In every way imaginable, it was a flop.

 

[groove-agent]

This is a fantastic article. There are product listed I didn't know existed, many of them are cool in concept. I never knew that Apple was ever serious about gaming with their Pippin console. I really like love look of the Mac Cube even now.

So many things that could be added to this article though: the butterfly keyboards, Touch Bar, the Apple TV remote (which even today isn't great). However these are probably regarded as parts of product and not products themselves.

 

[jon3543]

The Macintosh TV was a three-tiered monstrosity, but Apple's acrylic phase was the worst.

 

[Gudi]

It was one of the early casualties of their insane quest to keep things small and fan-less while denying the underlying thermal requirements; it was like a harbinger of the Mac Pro trashcan debacle.

Nah! First you have the vision of a thin and light form factor, then you implement an imperfect version and then you end up with Apple Silicon. Apple did everything right, some people were just unlucky to be born too early in computer development.

 

[meetajhu]

Magic Mouse is the worst product ever made by humans and it was engineered by Apple.

 

[alexandr]

I use a trusty AA battery powered one. No wires, no problems, very light kit with an actual tiny on/off slider switch. And yes it's on the bottom.

Yea, I've got a couple of those too, but they don't make them anymore, at least I don't think they do.

 

[Clix Pix]

The picture is telling you to charge the mouse overnight.

Nah, Apple probably figured out early-on that some users would simply buy themselves TWO Apple Magic Mice....and when the one they're using with their machine needs recharging, which of course often seems to happen at an inconvenient time, it's a simple matter of swapping that one out so that the other one that has been set aside in reserve is ready to be put into immediate use while the first is being recharged. A no-brainer for the customer, a win win for Apple since the customer has now bought two identical Magic Mice!

 

[Naraxus]

The 84 biggest flops, fails, and dead dreams of the decade in tech

Some of these ideas caught fire — but not in the ways their creators hoped.

www.theverge.com

Android Authority: Tech Reviews, News, Buyer's Guides, Deals, How-To

Your source for the best phones, streaming, apps, headphones, deals, games, Chromebooks, smart home tech, and more.

www.androidauthority.com

Google Cemetery: Learn from Google's +100 Failures

Learn from Google's +100 failures to build profitable businesses and scale acquired companies.

www.failory.com

These lists put the MacRumors article in context. I like to calm down the trumphant Apple skeptics here at MacRumors a bit

None of which have anything to do with the topic at hand

 

[Churchman]

This article was nice.

Made me think through all my Apples:
- 1993 Apple Centris 650 (Got this to celebrate college graduation and getting my first corporate job.)
- 1997 Apple 1400CS laptop (I would say the Apple 100 -> Duo -> 1400/2400/3400 laptops were flops in terms of being terribly under-specd in terms of memory, CPU power and upgradability.)
- 2001 Apple PowerBook G3 Pismo - LOVED IT!!!!!! Work of Art!!! I stare at it as much as I stare at my 1966 Mercedes 230 SL roadster and my 1966 Ford Mustang - both white with black interior. Simply beautiful.
- 2001 Gen 1 Apple iPod - loved it! (Got my 2001 Pismo and iPod when I moved to Japan for Job #3.)
- 2003 Apple PowerBook G4 12-inch - too heavy and too thick
- 2007 Apple MacBook Pro 15 inch - the first Intel Apple I owned. Still use it. (Got this when I went to work for Dell!!!)
- 2007 Apple white MacBook - bought for my parents. Still use it.
- 2013 Apple iPhone 4 - took me a while to warm up to my 1st iPhone. I need my phone to be a phone, not a camera!
- 2013 Apple iPad Air - nice go-anywhere media tool.
- 2013 Apple wireless keyboard - LOVE IT!!! Still use it. (Got the 2013 products when I went to work for the NBA.)
- 2013 Apple MBP 15 inch - I am typing on it now. It is my current Apple notebook. Still runs and looks like new. To me, it has been the most perfect Apple product I have ever owned, perhaps aside from the Gen 1 iPod.
- 2014 Apple iPhone 6 - HATED IT!!!!! HATED IT!!!! Never felt such hate for an Apple product. Nearly divorced Apple.
- 2017 Apple iPhone SE - this is still the iPhone I use today. Though it is basically dead. Need a new phone ASAP. (Got this when I went to work for Amazon Web Services. AWS gave me a new MBP for the job.)

I have purchased other Apple goods. Can't recall the rest right now.

But I will say the worst of what I have owned by far:
1) 1400CS laptop - terribly underpowered
2) iPhone 6 - the worst... bad product design in every respect in my opinion.

The most "magical" Apple I have owned:
1) PBG3 Pismo
2) 2013 Apple wireless keyboard
3) Gen 1 iPod

The Apple product that has been the closest to perfect for me thus far:
1) The Apple I am typing on now: 2013 MBP 15 inch
2) Gen 1 iPod
3) 2013 Apple wireless keyboard

My relationship with Apple... it's been more extensive than I thought. And Apple has been the tool I have used to activate / accentuate / punctuate so many periods in my life. Magical indeed.

 

[scottrngr]

I bought a Newton at a city surplus auction, for maybe $20. It was property of the city library, and wasn't erased, so I had all the "information" on it. It seemed like it was just an electronic address book. At least that's what they used it for. I didn't keep it long. I also had the Cube, and sold it to a collector for $100 just to get it out of my way. It took up the same amount of space as the trashcan Mac Pro. I should've kept it. It was good, but the firewire kept disconnecting when trying to import video.

 

[Naraxus]

No, not the level of the iPhone, but not a dud.

I don't think anything could ever match the level of iPhone success.