9 Apple Products That Failed Hard
It’s a good thing that bad Apple isn’t killing the bunch, because the company has had a lot of duds over the years.
Remembering the time before the iPhone’s dominance has been difficult, but not every product can be that successful. Especially when you’ve been in business for nearly a century. (Apple Computer was founded in 1976, when co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built computers by hand in Jobs’ garage.)
The following are some of the weirdest and biggest flops Apple has ever made and what made people dislike them.
Apple HomePod
The year this product was first released by Apple: 2018
Original price of this product (not adjusted for inflation): $349
The first version of Apple’s smart speaker was considered overpriced and limited in performance compared to its competition, which Apple acknowledged by lowering the cost to $299 a year later.
The recently released HomePod Mini is smaller, cheaper, and more popular – only $99.
Apple Maps
The year this product was first released by Apple: 2012
Original price of this product (not adjusted for inflation): Free for Apple devices
Apple has offered its own navigation software for more than a decade, but it was so bad at first that CEO Tim Cook wrote an open letter of apology encouraging people to use Google Maps instead.
What was wrong with it? However, the Brooklyn Bridge looked like a Salvador Dali painting, and featured a route across the Golden Gate Bridge that involved driving up the side of one of its famous red towers – or straight into the water, depending on how you looked at it. Its directions sometimes led to circles.
Apple Newton
The year this product was first released by Apple: 1993
Original price of this product (not adjusted for inflation): $699
Apple makes Newton crawl so the iPad can climb. Far from a tablet, the Apple Newton was nevertheless an early attempt at a portable laptop before the PalmPilot or BlackBerry.
Laptops were around in the early ’90s, but they were uncomfortable to use and unaffordable for most people – thousands of dollars. Apple’s entry-level PowerBook 100 model at the time, sometimes considered the computer that made laptops mainstream, was $2,300.
Power Mac G4 Cube
The year this product was first released by Apple: 2000
Original price of this product (not adjusted for inflation): $1,799
Apple called the thing “revolutionary,” and Steve Jobs called it “the coolest computer ever,” but you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for coffee or a box of tissues.
It had no standard input for speakers or a microphone. There was no power button — you just stroke it to wake it up or put it to sleep.
It almost looked like you couldn’t connect anything at all because the USB ports, internet port and monitor input were all down.
Round mouse
The year this product was first released by Apple: 1998
Original price of this product (not adjusted for inflation): Includes purchase of iMac ($1,299)
Jokingly known as the “hockey puck,” this USB mouse shipped with iMacs and came in a variety of colors to match those machines. It was a case of reinventing the wheel, badly.
Smaller than traditional mice and with awkwardly placed buttons, this uncomfortable thing has been called “the ugliest mouse ever.”
U2 iPod
The year this product was first released by Apple: 2004
Original price of this product (not adjusted for inflation): $349
Apple has a storied partnership with the band U2. It has given hundreds of millions of iTunes users a free U2 album, whether they like it or not. (Initially it was impossible to delete from your iPod, iPhone or computer and people were angry about it.)
That was after he made four special U2 iPods over a three-year period. These black and red musicians were mostly met with a shrug, but that might be a better reaction than anger.
The Apple III
The year this product was first released by Apple: 1980
Original price of this product (not adjusted for inflation): $4,340+
Like many early computers, the Apple III looked like someone strapped a TV to a typewriter. Suffered from Apple’s growing pains, shipping late with faulty hardware. The company has struggled to overcome that negative perception for years.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak explains in an interview:
“Originally, we planned to deliver four applications with the Apple III – word processing, spreadsheet, business graphics, and a database program. […] But because we had problems managing the Apple III project while we were building our administrative structure, we were only able to deliver our own operating system – SOS – and VisiCalc, made by Personal Software. [which later became VisiCorp]. The Apple III shipped very late and had 100 percent hardware failure. “
Urban legend has it that Apple recommended picking up the Apple III and dropping it as a legitimate support solution.
Apple Lisa
The year this product was first released by Apple: 1983
Original price of this product (not adjusted for inflation): $9,995
Apple’s Lisa was among the first to offer a computer using a “visual interface,” where users could move the cursor over the screen and click on pictures to accomplish tasks instead of having to type all the commands on a boring black screen because Windows didn’t exist.
This amazing technology can be yours for 10 grand. (Like over 30 good ones today.) Successfully marketed to businesses.
Fortunately, Apple gave graphics another go with the Macintosh personal computer, which cost one-fourth the price of the Lisa and grew into a billion-dollar market in just a few years.
iPhone 6
The year this product was first released by Apple: 2014
Original price of this product (not adjusted for inflation): $199+
At the launch of the iPhone 6, CEO Tim Cook called it “the biggest development in the history of the iPhone.” Users disagree, especially when many find that their phone starts to bend and the touchscreen stops working.
The iPhone 6 also used to have problems with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and mobile data usage. It had a failure rate of 22%, requiring repair or a new phone.
