The futuristic Google Glass was an incredibly anticipated and highly buzzed product. It was released in 2013 and hyped as technology that you could wear. Over time, however, the reality of Google Glass became apparent and the excitement definitely waned as its shortcoming came to light. The glasses, for instance, could not be worn in public places like movie theatres because they are always able to shoot video and take pictures.
Not only does that sound a little creepy and bring up privacy issues, but the glasses were also soon found to be redundant. Why would you need an expensive computer inside your glasses, when you already have everything you need in the form of a smartphone in your pocket, which is more convenient and can be put away as needed. This app may bear a successful name, but it was anything but.
Qwikster
Netflix made a name for itself by making things easier for its users by letting them skip the drive to the video store. Over time though, streaming became an ever-expanding part of their business. In 2011, the company decided that it would be a good idea to create a new service called Qwikster to handle the mail DVD rentals, while Netflix would continue to focus on streaming television and movies.
Company execs may have thought this was a great idea, but the consumers did not. They already had one account which was for everything and had no desire to complicate things. The move caused Netflix stocks to plummet and CEO Reed Hastings announced that the plan was canceled only 23 days after it was announced. This competitor wanted to compete with Apple so bad it hurt and failed.
HP Touchpad
Another competitor who was trying to get a foothold in the tablet market was HP. They released the HP Touchpad in 2011 and put a lot of money and effort into promoting it. Before the product was even available, the company held a special event to announce it, but the time between the announcement and its release was too long and consumer interest waned, with no one exactly sure when they would arrive in stores.
Although the tablet wasn’t bad, due to low sales HP must have felt that it couldn’t compete with Apple. They announced that the Touchpad was going to be discontinued after only a month and a half on the market. The prices immediately went way down, and you could purchase one for only 99$. Ironically, in the end, the demand was extremely high for these discounted tablets. The outlook for this expensive gadget looked bright, but then the clouds rolled in.
Facebook Home
In 2013, Facebook offered Android users the option of having it take over their home screen by installing the Facebook Home app and paying a two-year subscription fee of $99. This was the height of Facebook’s success before the backlash about privacy and a lot of people were tempted to give the company even more access to their device.
Those who did soon regretted it. The app drained your phone’s battery and data plan, hid other apps and filled your screen with unending notifications. The price dropped to 99 cents only a month after its release, and after multiple attempts to fix the problems, the whole thing was scrapped. Amazon’s smartphone offering was not the smartest in the bunch.
Amazon Fire Phone
Amazon had some success with its affordable and high-quality Fire tablets, so the logical next step was for them to release a smartphone. They came up with the Amazon Fire Phone, which was produced and released in a rush in 2014 and it showed. The first thing that surprised consumers was the high price and the second was its limited functionality.
The phone had a hefty price tag of $650, which is pretty much the same price as a new iPhone, but many apps wouldn’t work on it. Users complained that they couldn’t even use basic things like Google Maps. The phone’s main selling point, 3D face scanning technology, was dismissed by users as a gimmick and it only took Amazon one year to see that the phone was a major fail, and have it discontinued. They have since stayed out of the smartphone game, at least for now... This product flamed hot and went out with a bang.