If you like train wrecks, 2011 was a fascinating year in personal technology.
From unpopular tablets to security blunders to bad management, failures and
flops seemed to be the rule, not the exception. Here are 2011's biggest tech
blunders.
Volt (General Motors)
Volt (General Motors)
General Motors (GM) was originally so excited about the Volt that the company had announced in January it was speeding up its roll-out by six months. But by November the excitement had fizzled out. Larry Nitz, GM’s executive director for vehicle electrification told Reuters, “It’s naive to think that the world is going to switch tomorrow to EVs [electric vehicles].” Indeed, sales for the vehicle have been consistently low. Only 125 models were sold in July 2011. This was after GM spokeswoman Michelle Bunker was quoted as saying that the Volt was “virtually sold out” due to its popularity — a statement later shown to be misguided. Adding insult to injury, Chevy Volts are under investigation for fires involving the cars’ lithium-ion batteries. For concerned Volt owners, GM has offered free loaner cars.
HTC Status (Facebook Phone)(AT&T/HTC)
In June of this year, AT&T announced the HTC Status. The Status was the first, and likely the last, smartphone with a dedicated Facebook share button. At the time of its launch, AT&T hoped it would be incredibly popular among Facebook users. “We can’t wait to put the HTC Status in the hands of our young customers who will waste no time tapping into Facebook to update their friends,” said AT&T Senior VP of Devices, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets Jeff Bradley in a statement. But sales were significantly lower than the company had originally expected, and rumors that the phone would be discontinued quickly spread. Given the ease with which users can access Facebook on other smartphones, the case for owning the Status was not very strong. Despite its low sales, AT&T has defended its product, stating, “The HTC Status is a great product and our plans for it to be part of our portfolio haven’t changed.”
In June of this year, AT&T announced the HTC Status. The Status was the first, and likely the last, smartphone with a dedicated Facebook share button. At the time of its launch, AT&T hoped it would be incredibly popular among Facebook users. “We can’t wait to put the HTC Status in the hands of our young customers who will waste no time tapping into Facebook to update their friends,” said AT&T Senior VP of Devices, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets Jeff Bradley in a statement. But sales were significantly lower than the company had originally expected, and rumors that the phone would be discontinued quickly spread. Given the ease with which users can access Facebook on other smartphones, the case for owning the Status was not very strong. Despite its low sales, AT&T has defended its product, stating, “The HTC Status is a great product and our plans for it to be part of our portfolio haven’t changed.”
Fiat 500(Fiat)
This year, Fiat released its new 500 — a three door car that is under 12 ft. long. The car was expected to be a big seller, rivaling BMW’s Mini. Even before the car’s launch, however, detractors were predicting failure. Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford (NYSE), stated in Panorama magazine, “I do not see a large market in the U.S.A. for a smaller car than the Fiesta. Those that tried failed.” He was right. According to online magazine DailyTech, “Fiat expected to sell 50,000 500s during 2011 in North America. Through the first seven months of 2011, Fiat sold fewer than 12,000.” Sales were so poor that Chrysler Group, which manages the Fiat brand in the United States, ousted U.S. chief Laura Soave this past November.
This year, Fiat released its new 500 — a three door car that is under 12 ft. long. The car was expected to be a big seller, rivaling BMW’s Mini. Even before the car’s launch, however, detractors were predicting failure. Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford (NYSE), stated in Panorama magazine, “I do not see a large market in the U.S.A. for a smaller car than the Fiesta. Those that tried failed.” He was right. According to online magazine DailyTech, “Fiat expected to sell 50,000 500s during 2011 in North America. Through the first seven months of 2011, Fiat sold fewer than 12,000.” Sales were so poor that Chrysler Group, which manages the Fiat brand in the United States, ousted U.S. chief Laura Soave this past November.
PlayStation Network Hack
When hackers broke into the PlayStation Network in April, Sony had to shut
its online gaming service down for a month and rebuild it with better defenses.
The downtime would have been bad enough to make this list, but even worse was
that the invaders made off with user names, email addresses, passwords, mailing
addresses, and other personal information. Sony's six-day delay in explaining
the extent of the damage didn't help.
Netflix
Netflix got on customers' bad side in July by unbundling its DVD and streaming services, effectively raising
prices by $6 per month for people who wanted both. Then, in September, Netflix
announced that it would spin off DVD rentals into a second company called Qwikster, with separate billing, reviews, and queues. The
backlash caused Netflix to change its mind about Qwikster, but the damage to the
company's reputation--and stock price--was done. Netflix stock now sits at about
$70 per share, down from $300 per share in June.
BlackBerry PlayBook
"Amateur hour is over," Research in Motion declared in an early advertisement
for the BlackBerry PlayBook, which the company launched in April. It
was an odd hook for a tablet that lacked email, calendar, and contacts apps at
launch. Those omissions, along with the PlayBook's shortage of third-party apps,
cemented its fate as a failed Apple iPad competitor. RIM is now clearing out
PlayBook inventory at $200 per tablet, and at a cost to the company of $485 million.
Google Chromebooks
If you spend most of your computer time in a browser, Google argued, why not
have a fast, secure laptop that strips away everything else? The concept was
alluring, but the first Chromebooks--which started shipping in June and are
based on Google's Chrome OS--simply aren't fast enough to justify the limited
functionality. For instance, PCWorld's Jason Cross gave the Samsung Series 5
Chromebook a 2.5-star rating, and reportedly overall Chromebook sales have been dismal.
Color
Color was an iPhone app that boasted all the right buzzwords
when it launched in March: social, mobile, real-time, photo sharing. Maybe
that's why investors dumped $41 million into the company. Too bad that the app
itself was confusing, and that the idea of sharing photos with everyone around
you works only if everyone around you is also using the app. Color has now
reinvented itself as a live-broadcasting tool for Facebook. Next step: Profit!
HP TouchPad
For some reason, HP thought that a tablet that was thicker and heavier than
Apple's iPad, and had fewer apps than the iPad, but cost the same as the iPad,
would have a chance of selling well. Of course, the HP TouchPad bombed when it
launched in June, and HP decided to stop making WebOS devices. On the bright
side, the ensuing $100 fire sale catapulted the TouchPad to number two in tablet sales,
according to the NPD Group. Hooray?
Android Tablets
Acer, Asus, Motorola, and Samsung sold roughly 500,000 Android tablets in the United States from
January to October, according to the NPD Group. Although U.S. sales for the iPad
are unknown, Apple has sold 11.2 million tablets worldwide in the last quarter
alone. Blame the competition's slow sales on an occasionally sluggish Android
tablet interface, a small number of tablet-optimized apps, high initial prices,
or poor marketing. In any case, the Android invasion has been no threat to the
iPad.
3D TV
Only a couple of years ago, television makers dreamed of a 3D takeover that
would restore their profits as the price of LCD TVs plummeted. But this year, 3D
TV has been a disappointment. Market research firm SNL Kagan projects 3D TV sales to decline this year, and a survey by the NPD
Group shows customer indifference to 3D on the rise. Turns out not a lot
of people want to pay premium prices to wear bulky 3D glasses while watching a
limited selection of 3D content. Who knew?
Google TV
Although Google TV launched in 2010, the full extent of its failure finally
became apparent this year, when Logitech ate nearly $100 million due to poor
sales of its Revue Google TV set-top box. To move units, Logitech had to
cut the price from $300 to $100, after reporting negative sales. In October, Google revamped its television platform to emphasize simplicity and
Android apps, but any hopes of a living-room insurgence will have to wait until
2012, when the company regroups with new hardware partners.
Duke Nukem Forever
Launching in June after 15 years of development hell, Duke Nukem Forever had
no chance of living up to anyone's expectations. However, the finished product
was so bad, and its raunchy attempts at humor so offensive and unfunny, that the
game should have remained vaporware. Duke Nukem Forever received an unfavorable
49 out of 100 score on Metacritic, and Ars Technica wrote that
the "people involved should be ashamed." Sales were lower than expected, too. Doesn't mean that a sequel won't
show up, though.
Former HP CEO Leo Apotheker
After the failure of the TouchPad tablet, HP stunned the tech world in August
by announcing plans to sell or spin off its entire PC business in order to focus on
enterprise software. That was a bad idea, because HP's enterprise success is due
to its ability to offer both hardware and software to businesses. Stocks
plummeted, HP's board sacked CEO Leo Apotheker in September, and the company
promptly reversed course on eliminating its PC business. Apotheker, however, got
a $13 million golden parachute, while an estimated 500 employees
who worked on WebOS lost their jobs.
Final Cut Pro X
Apple's newfound riches in the consumer market have turned into bad news for
the creative professionals who once carried the company on their backs. Final
Cut Pro X--the latest version of Apple's video-editing software--is a cheaper,
simpler program that eliminates some tools on which many professional editors
rely. Apple faced a backlash from these users after Final Cut's June
launch, but saw no noticeable effect on its bottom line.
Nintendo 3DS
Although the Nintendo 3DS impresses with glasses-free 3D, at its launch in
March the starting price tag of $250 and the lack of great software scared off
customers. To save its newborn handheld, Nintendo had to cut the price to $180
four months later. The new price helps, and the recent launch of Super Mario 3D
Land has given the 3DS a huge sales boost, but the initial price was a major
miscalculation that contributed to Nintendo's first annual loss in three decades.
Mozilla Firefox
Desperate to accelerate the release of new features and keep up with Google's
Chrome browser, Mozilla switched Firefox to a rapid release schedule in June that brought new software
versions every six weeks. The switch had unfortunate side effects, such as
broken extensions and alienated enterprise users who couldn't keep up. And it
didn't stop Mozilla's market-share slide, either: In November, Firefox fell into third place behind Chrome, according to StatCounter.
Cisco Flip Video Camera
Pure Digital's Flip camcorders were popular when Cisco bought the company and
its products for $590 million worth of stock in 2009. But since then, Cisco let
the product line languish while smartphones with built-in video cameras rose to
popularity. In April, Cisco abruptly killed the Flip in a major restructuring of the company's
consumer business--a sad demise for a once-proud gadget.
Mars Needs Moms
(Disney)
Following the release of Avatar in 2009, Hollywood had a new cash cow in the form of 3-D films. This all changed with the release of director Simon Wells’s Mars Needs Moms — a flop of epic proportions. Disney (DIS), of course, was expecting another hit. The film cost $175 million to make. In its opening weekend it brought in just $6.9 million. According to movie data website The Numbers, Mars Needs Moms lost an estimated $130 million in worldwide gross sales, the biggest money loser of all time. Journalist Brooks Barnes wrote in the New York Times, “In the movie business, sometimes a flop is just a flop. Then there are misses so disastrous that they send signals to broad swaths of Hollywood.” Mars Needs Moms signaled that the market has become saturated and that digitally animated family films are not the sure thing they once were.
(Disney)
Following the release of Avatar in 2009, Hollywood had a new cash cow in the form of 3-D films. This all changed with the release of director Simon Wells’s Mars Needs Moms — a flop of epic proportions. Disney (DIS), of course, was expecting another hit. The film cost $175 million to make. In its opening weekend it brought in just $6.9 million. According to movie data website The Numbers, Mars Needs Moms lost an estimated $130 million in worldwide gross sales, the biggest money loser of all time. Journalist Brooks Barnes wrote in the New York Times, “In the movie business, sometimes a flop is just a flop. Then there are misses so disastrous that they send signals to broad swaths of Hollywood.” Mars Needs Moms signaled that the market has become saturated and that digitally animated family films are not the sure thing they once were.
Ashley Push-Up Triangle(Abercrombie & Fitch)
While no stranger to controversy, Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) seemed to have crossed a line this time. In March, 2011, the retailer unveiled its spring line for Abercrombie Kids, a division targeting children ages 8 to 14. Included in the line was the “Ashley” Push-Up Triangle, a bikini top with padding. The launch prompted a violent response from parent groups. Several child development experts also criticized the top because it sexualized young girls. At first, Abercrombie tried to address the concerns by reclassifying the top as padded and saying it was not intended for very young girls. It stated on Facebook: “We’ve re-categorized the Ashley swimsuit as padded. We agree with those who say it is best ‘suited’ for girls age 12 and older.” But while the bottoms are still available, the bikini top is no longer featured on the company’s website.
While no stranger to controversy, Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) seemed to have crossed a line this time. In March, 2011, the retailer unveiled its spring line for Abercrombie Kids, a division targeting children ages 8 to 14. Included in the line was the “Ashley” Push-Up Triangle, a bikini top with padding. The launch prompted a violent response from parent groups. Several child development experts also criticized the top because it sexualized young girls. At first, Abercrombie tried to address the concerns by reclassifying the top as padded and saying it was not intended for very young girls. It stated on Facebook: “We’ve re-categorized the Ashley swimsuit as padded. We agree with those who say it is best ‘suited’ for girls age 12 and older.” But while the bottoms are still available, the bikini top is no longer featured on the company’s website.