The Decade's 25 Biggest Tech Flops

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KingKionic 6012d ago

Wasn't a flop in my heart .

^ ____ ^

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Mindboggle6012d ago

The Zune is a huge flop, and so is the xbox. However MSN = Owned by microsoft..

However over half the list is Sony products which is unfair..

Godmars2906012d ago

Which needs 32 short pages to cover 25 items.

WTF is wrong with the corporate mindset?

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IzKyD13316012d ago

MSN literally stands for The Microsoft Network lol

Amplitude6012d ago

I was reading them all, and eventually by the time i got to the "HD-DVD" section i was like... "wait, wtf? It's like this was written by a Microsoft fanboy...". Then, i hit the last pag,, clicked next, and it brought me to the home page. Then i was all like "AWW FVCK ITS MSN.COM. WTF!?" xD

Blaze9296011d ago (Edited 6011d ago )

http://tech.msn.com/product...

i dont see anything a flop there...oh ooooooooooooh that thing in their hands, completely missed that

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PirateThom6012d ago

LocationFree was probably ahead of its time. A few years later and it may have been a hit, especially with how popular streaming content to different rooms is becoming.

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mrv3216012d ago

32 pages to contain 2 pages worth of content, this will not get my approval because it was a seemingly annoying way of getting more hits or advertisement money.

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Lord Shuhei Yoshida6012d ago (Edited 6012d ago )

Fortunately the Xbox 360 took #1 on that list.Poor bots

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Stryfeno26012d ago

Too bad you don't know how to read or click on a link.

Anyway... Lol @ UMB.

user39158006012d ago

Hilarious how the most electronics came out of sony, out off 32 shown product 21 were flop products from sony.

They forgot to add the flopstation 3, which should of been at the top off the list, since it has cost sony 6.7 billion so far in lost off revenues and no sign off slowing down.

The biggest slob in history are PS3 fantards followed by f@agdroids kissing dildos.

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Defectiv3_Detectiv36011d ago

Honestly though, I think the 360 deserves a spot on this list. It might not be a flop in terms of popularity but reliability is a totally different story. 360 failures are so common there is an underground market for repairing them. You can most likely find someone willing to fix your 360 somewhere in your area if you look on craig's list. Now if 360's are not unreliable, I don't know what is. And unreliable is the last thing an electronic device should be.

I love it when people try and compare RROD to the PS2 dvd drive going out. That was nowhere near as bad. Besides, the optical drive is the most common thing to go out on a console(360 notwithstanding), and when it came out, the PS2 was the cheapest DVD player on the market. To be honest, the only console I've had break down on me was my 360, but I fixed it easily.

AngryTypingGuy6011d ago (Edited 6011d ago )

I saw a lot of Sony logos as I was flipping through those pictures.

I noticed satellite radio was on the list. I gotta admit, I love my satellite radio. Well, Opie and Anthony at least, they're the single reason I have it. But it is nice being able to drive from coast to coast and not have to listen to commercials on a music channel. And what's even better is that talk radio such as Opie and Anthony, and Howard Stern don't have to abide by FCC regulations. FM radio sucks by comparison, and thanks to lawyers and the ultra-conservative politics of the Bush era that increased the potential fines to a level where stations and shows are afraid to try or say anything risque, it's dying a slow death.

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d_dogg20076012d ago

Where is the original xbox, that thing flopped hard.

Horny6012d ago

that it did, but so did the gamecube, only when you compare them to the PS2. Selling around 20 mill or more is no flop though. They didnt do go out of business either. But you could consider the x box since they lost a lot of money on the console, Nintendo didnt with the gamecube.

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aueslander6012d ago

Gimmie a break, a first time console from a new company in the biz selling over 20 mil units in only 4 years AND the fact it revolutionized online gaming for consoles and you call it a flop?

Anyone saying th first xbox flopped is a retarded idiot. MS new they wouldnt be able to sell the same as the PS2, ESPECIALLY coming a year after the PS2 (wait, sound familar sony fantards??)

Anyway, the first box did well and was actually an overall better system (more powerful) than the ps2 and was a solid first effort.

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qface646011d ago

REALLY SERIOUSLY?
you don't consider loosing over 7 billion dollars on the original xbox a flop?
sounds like a flop to me

i saw the list but no windows vista? that was a flop

somekindofmike6011d ago

Vista is one of the biggest flops (mainly at launched, it has been improved with service packs now) of the last 25 years easily, would be my number one on that list.

The original Xbox I would not consider a flop, to decide if it is a flop or not you have to put it into context of what MS wanted to achieve with the xbox, and that was to make a name for it self in the gaming industry and get a foot hold. I'm pretty sure MS new all along they weren't going to make money on the original Xbox, there plan has always been long term in gaming.

in my opinion their is a much stronger case for calling the 360 a flop over the original xbox, because who know's what damage the failure rate will do to MS next generation? I can imagine that a lot of people will be hesitant of picking up the next xbox at launch. & this then could potential effect MS long term plans in gaming.

Put it another way, how much more successfuly could MS of been if the 360 didn't have such a high failure rate? I know I would definitely have one instead of a PS3 if both consoles were equally as reliable.

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xboxlover6012d ago

PS3 Anyone. I was going to buy one, again but remembered that anyone who buys one, gets screwed up the @$$ by sony. My friend has gone through 15-20 PS3's because of BD drives failing, just like sony.

sunil6012d ago

exactly how my friend went through 150-200 360's because of RRODs, E74s, Disc scratching etc...

360 anyone?

get ur facts straight mr xboxlover

ps: claims should be backed up with evidence...

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Saaking6012d ago

He was gonna get one but then his mommy said no and he cried and is no a lame xbot because he couldn't buy a ps3. poor bot.

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Snake Raiser6012d ago

Right...well i've gone through OVER 9000 xbox 360's and PS3's so what!??! Who can top that?

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Poopface the 2nd6012d ago

your waiting for the fajita "its over 9000"

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KILL-ALL-CURE6012d ago

Tell your freind to stop trying to stick his needledick inside of the Blu-ray player and the USB ports

jeseth6012d ago

Really? ....

...Really?

Thats the best you could do? 15-20 Blue Ray Drives eh? Wow.

LOL at your life.

Marcelles256012d ago (Edited 6012d ago )

there you go

jeseth6012d ago

LOL. F'n awesome.

AngryTypingGuy6011d ago

This is coming from myself, a proud Xbox fan: 15-20 PS3's sounds a bit far fetched. Going through 15-20 360's sounds far fetched and the problems of the early models are well documented. It's damn near impossible to go through 15-20 of any electronic device.

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sunil6012d ago

Interesting to see the top 25 having mostly Sony products !

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sak5006012d ago

Yes rather than sony being the best in electronics it is the one with most flops.

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Elven66012d ago

If a technology is deemed a failure it is not the fault of others but the fault of the company that made it. Sony unfortunately hasn't had the best success when it came to introducing some products to market, some were truly ahead of there time.

mrv3216012d ago

Most of Sony's tech is too advanced I mean at the time UMDvsCartridgevs£70SD cards now you tell me which is best?

Locationfree also seemed pretty advanced.

Sony produces the most advanced tech(OLED, Blu-ray, BetaMax, Laptops, PS3, TV's, Cameras, Camcorders) but no one really sees the advantages of these... OLED is unheard of outside techies, Blu-Ray is just some DVD for many, BetaMax is a joke to anyone who doesn't know it's workings, Voia Laptops are seen as expencive while MacBooks are cheap, No one understands contract ratio's or any of the stuff but the understand money, Cameras that are advertised to average people usually end up in the hands of pro's or semi pro's same with camcorders.

Sony isn't failing, the market is just too casual...

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Lich1206012d ago

Well I would say, considering they're a business if they're doing things that people don't support, then they're failing. Of course though, they do plenty of things people do support. That's why they are such a large company.

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ThatCanadianGuy6012d ago

Every one, even the brain dead xbots of this site know 360 is the true most monumental failure of tech related devices.Period.

No electronics in history have had a 40%+ Failure rate.
Also, M$ is the only company to go backwards in tech.
Hd-DVD add on? LMFAO!

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TheTruth896012d ago

Someone should mail them, they forgot the "DVD CAPABLE 360°C MINI-FURNACE"

HannahMontanna6012d ago

The dreamcast was a flop to SEGA but not the homebrew community. they still make stuff for that console

Saaking6012d ago

the 360 should be #1 followed immediately by the zune, and of course in third place there should be vista. Wow, MS does suck yet the buts like them so much. How delusional can they get.

Taarec10ToTheEnd6012d ago

Anyone wants to tell me why half the products named in this slide are Sony?

Oh yeah, MSN is owned by Microsoft. Shouldn't Windows Vista and the 360 be on the list?

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Elven66012d ago

Because Sony never has the best luck when it comes to introducing new technology which is a shame because sometimes the tech is really good.

Funny how MSN Journalists write about all things independent of Microsoft, they even do reviews for PS3 games, hardware, etc which are unsurprisingly unbiased.

Also, did you happen to miss the pretty noticeable from CNET logo at the top?

Captain Tuttle6012d ago

A sign of a leader imo. Quite a few MS products in there as well.

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PirateThom6012d ago (Edited 6012d ago )

I wouldn't say Sony have had bad luck either, a lot of their formats and products just weren't ready for the average consumer, but they do have a few big ones.

Walkman is probably one of the single most important innovations ever, how many people now use something to listen to portable music?

CD was another big one from Sony (and Phillips), I don't think I need to stress the importance it had.

Even when they don't innovate, they have numerous successful products

PlayStation line, Bravia, Vaio, Sony Ericsson, Trinitron, Handycam, Cybershot, Blu-ray.

And then there's a few products with more neich appeal like MiniDisc/ATRAC or SACD.

"Failures" are the only way companies can grow and, if it doesn't ruin them, they learn and improve from it.

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raztad6012d ago

So many Sony products just means innovation, R&D spending, pushing technology forward. Some of them were not ready for mass consumption, others just "overpriced".

Rob0g0rilla6012d ago (Edited 6012d ago )

With new formats and new ideas, not all of them were successful but enough were to keep them going.

I agree that Windows Vista, Zune, and Xbox 1 were all flops and should of been included. These flops have helped them create better products. And what big company doesn't have flops?

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divideby06012d ago

not gonna do 32 clicks, but if HDDVD isnt on the list, the list is a joke

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Nikuma6012d ago

It is.

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Sir Ken_Kutaragi6012d ago

1.xBox 360
2.xBox 360
3.xBox 360
4.xBox 360
5.xBox 360
6.xBox 360
7.xBox 360
8.xBox 360
9.xBox 360
10.xBox 360
11.xBox 360
12.xBox 360
13.xBox 360
14.xBox 360
15.xBox 360
16.xBox 360
17.xBox 360
18.xBox 360
19.xBox 360
20.xBox 360
21.xBox 360
22.xBox 360
23.xBox 360
24.xBox 360
25.xBox 360

Oh erm + the Original xBox!!! ;-D

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cyberwaffles6012d ago (Edited 6012d ago )

i saw some microsoft products in there. another thing to remember is that sony is primarily a hardware manufacturing company where as microsoft are predominantly software so obviously you're going to come across more sony products as they make a lot of hardware technology. i am surprised that they didn't list HDDVD.

@ sak
the 360 deserves to be on the list before the ps3.

i went from a 360 to a ps3 and it felt like an improvement in hardware. all ps3 models had good hardware reliability, HDMI, built in wireless network, blu ray, free online and a lot of good games where as the 360 had extremely high failure rates, bad hardware design, e74 errors, DVD drive problems, disc scratching, had to pay online, no standard HDD, and i don't remember the 360 that i bought having any HDMI ports. not flaming, but that's just fact.

edit: nm, i saw HDDVD. i didn't know they had so many pages. i guess they want every click to count.

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creepjack6012d ago

How is the original Xbox a flop? It may not have sold PS2 numbers, but it was hardly a flop. Too many Sony idiots around here.

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raztad6012d ago

Why so harsh?

Xbox1 was a flop. MS abruptly discontinued its production/support leaving all xbox owners out in the cold. Ms never got any profit from it. Commercial failure its definition of flop.

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DevastationEve6012d ago

The original Xbox held on pretty strong since it had DVD playback, which was something critical for PS2 purchases back then. If not for that we could've seen Xbox fail within 2 years of launch, though it had great games PS2 just picked up steam too quickly and took off running.

It's great that Microsoft was able to keep going though, since all of their best ideas from the first Xbox brought them huge success with 360. Now who's leading the pack...reversal of fortune people :)

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cyberwaffles6011d ago

microsoft are hardly leading the pack. if anything, nintendo are a bunch of business geniuses. i honestly can't think of any other company being able to sell millions of consoles (electronics for that matter) with inferior hardware and software. usually in technology, you want to buy the more advanced hardware. better graphics chip, more user accessible, more features, better hardware design, etc etc but nintendo actually went against the natural rule of electronics of progressing and made it a success. sony and microsoft should feel a fool to be outperformed by weaker hardware.

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danielle0076012d ago

I see people saying xbox 1 is a flop because M$ lost money on it, but wasn't Sony losing like money for every PS3 sold? Sooo............... Right. Xbox1 wasn't a flop, I think it was nice, it was regrettable that M$ decided to kill it soo quickly, but I think they're doing things right this time around with the 360 - minus the hardware problems. It's swell.

I didn't like the list that much though, they had like "This crappy product" and then "The 2nd version of this crappy product, that didn't make it better enough to not be on the list" right after it .. Kind of redundant. It annoyed mee.

Dead_Cell6012d ago

It was discontinued pretty quickly once Microsoft went "Next Gen" and no profits came off of it.
Profitability - a flop.
Commercially - a reasonable success.

dcbronco6012d ago

so far like the original Xbox, the PS3 has been a huge flop. Not only did it completely lose the marketshare Sony had, it has but them over 5 billion in the hole and climbing. In fact after last quarter it has to be quickly nearing the 6 billion mark. And before it's said and done, Blu-ray will be in the same boat. It hasn't been able to outsell HD DVD for sometime. It's pretty bad when you still can't beat a format that has been dead for a year and a half.

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danielle0076012d ago

I agree with the both of you. Xbox1 is a flop - even if it hurts to say it, and the PS3 is a flop, for the time being, at least. Plenty of time for the comeback, though, since Sony doesn't kill consoles off. In the end, I bet the PS3 won't be a flop.

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aueslander6012d ago

when MS ot into the console game they never expected to make money, they knew they wouldnt get profit from it but they did it to get into the game console business. You see, MS has enough $$$ to get into a new biz and loose billions and still be fine just to get their foot into the door.

Also, for a system that revolutionized console online gaming, calling it a flop is retarded. Also, MS made its cash on software sales, I mean for quite awhile, Halo 2 held records for most $$$ in 24 hours in all of entertainment (it did what, $125 mil in 24 hours only exclipsed when H3 did like $175 mil). So, yea, the first box was not a flop. Had it been a flop there would be no 360.

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DevastationEve6012d ago (Edited 6012d ago )

PS3 has put Sony in the worst position thus far: it's expensive to build and its hardware is so exclusive that it's the only way IBM makes money off of CellBE and the XDR memory. Even having bluray hurts because if all people wanted was a movie player they'd buy one, and having those players go down in value means PS3 won't represent the best value later on (which is when sales will become their greatest due to how much time the format has been on the market).

Sony faces the worst dilema: give our expensive beast away or keep the price where it is and lose to Xbox.

As a gaming console PS3 is matched bit for bit and pixel for pixel by a console that's much cheaper to build, more affordable to the consumer, and so far has actually been so successful as the catalyst of console online gaming proliferation that Sony had to take note and respond with PSN.

Xbox is here to stay :)

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NotSoSilentBob6012d ago

Wheres Vista? Wheres Zune? Wheres xbox? Wheres Windows ME? My goodness people over look the crappiest of crap

kharma456011d ago

Exactly, ME, Vista, original Xbox and original Zune should all be there tbh.

zok3106011d ago

Just like the bots, MS think their @hit don't stink.

1111116012d ago (Edited 6012d ago )

Dreamcast was an outstanding console, still is. The only flop here was
sega d|cking out of the hardware business on request of sega usa.
Shame on you Mr Moore. I hope for that decision you slave eternally at ms or even worse ea :p

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kraze076012d ago

The Dreamcast was definitely a great console. I wouldn't call it a flop. I also don't think the Xbox and PS3 are flops. To say so is just pure nonsense IMO.

NateDPG6011d ago

lol MS

Where is Xbox? 360? Vista? And a lot of other MS products? tsk tsk

kewlkat0076011d ago

"PS2 : 130 million plus.

Xbox : 30 million.

Which system flopped? "

Thats what I've been talking about. Last gen everyone pulled out numbers to make their case and now this gen some complain...hehe

I don't think flopping is so much about the numbers.

cygnuszero6011d ago

If we're talking about companies losing money on a device, then why the hell is the PS3 not on this list? It's in 3rd place, and Sony is losing an epic amount of money on it. I remember hearing over a year ago it was already over a billion. That's far more than MS lost on the originl xbox.

So if you're going to say the xbox failed, then the PS3 is an even bigger failure by default.

skatezero2466011d ago

lol the ps3 a flop?

Xbox=roughly 30 million units sold over 5 years I believe

Ps3=21.8 million units in less than 3 ....

so which system flopped? and I don't see how the ps3 has flopped considering it's still selling rather well when you consider the systems price.

skatezero2466011d ago

oh and almost forgot, I figured I would add that Sony isn't the only company that lost money this gen. Microsoft has lost a billion on the xbox360 or close to it themselves due to rrod failures.

Krew_926011d ago

Xbox was a huge flop...Flop is not about losing money, it's more about a company scrapping the product. Even after some people might have still used it. I'm pretty sure people still play Halo 1 on the first Xbox.
I don't think the Playstation 3 is a flop, because Sony will never give up on the system, why? Because they just aren't like that. Come on Playstation 3 currently has the best looking games on the Console market, exclusives that is.
On point this article was completely useless and poorly organized, if you're gonna have a list at least include 5 or 10 in one page...

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Pootangpie6011d ago (Edited 6011d ago )

PS2 was pretty much considered dead after god of war 2 most of the game now a days on the damn system are shovelware if the PS3 wasn't a big profit killer they probably would have killed PS2 a few months after it's release Besides if you think xbox was a failure I guess you weren't a gamer very long to see how bad the saturn was

@skatezero246 the dreamcast was a flop it didn't make sega any money regardless how much good support they puy in the system also they got absoulty no support from EA so that also what made it's death even faster

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Bzone246011d ago

So are you saying if a company has a product that they lose billions of dollars on. And then they only sell about 100 of them, just as long as they don't scrap it because somebody might use it, it's not a flop?

mac4u106011d ago

lol long live HD DVD

skatezero2466011d ago

I agree with the article except for one thing ... I don't think the dreamcast was a flop, because that system was selling like hot cakes similar to the wii this generation. the mistake Sega made was releasing the system way before it's time and in result the ps2 killed it rather quickly

Dan GamingBolt6011d ago (Edited 6011d ago )

why would they post this on MSN?

zok3106011d ago

The original Xbox should be on that list at the number 1 and 2 spots, :P also Zune needs to be there also.

tawak6011d ago

hey where is ps3rd on the list?

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Pootangpie6011d ago (Edited 6011d ago )

first of all the dreamcast was a flop considering it's early retirment despite all the great games Xbox had great games as well it may not have made MS a lot of money but it survived just like the gamecube where as the dreamcast didn't and it's funny how the sony fanboys think it's only sony products being considered failures espically due to the fact that the Microsoft Smart Display and the Microsoft SPOT Smart Watches I bet if this was a sony site they would have done the same thing although I wouldn't hear a damn peep out of you fanboys you really must have your heads up your assess if you people think UMD Movies actually isn't a big blunder makeing for sony and there not still supporting because they care there doing it because they spent way too much money on it already and by the looks of it will be long dead once the PSP go arrives it blows my mind how retarded the sony fanboys are