The world is filled with loads of stuff. Some of it makes our lives easier, a few we can’t live without, others are purely just for fun. Then there are those that are utterly useless. Someone out there is always trying to make something better, or bigger/smaller, or faster. And new products are launched almost on a daily basis.
Deciding to introduce something to an already saturated market can be risky. You might lose money, damage your brand, and at worst, have to shut down your entire company if your product flops spectacularly. Of course, sometimes the risk is worth the reward. if you succeed, you could find yourself rolling in the dough.
When Google announced it was working on making wearable smart glasses, the world went wild. Well, some people did, anyway. Time Magazine named Glass one of the Best Inventions of 2012. Media mogul Tim O’Reilly tweeted: “I suspect that Google Glass may be a technology milestone to surpass the iPhone.” The product was officially launched in 2014. By 2015, it was dead and gone... Pulled from the market following epic failure to perform, among other things. When someone asked "What product failed despite being actually pretty good?", thousands of people added their two cents. Bored Panda has put together some of the top answers. Upvote your favorites and let us know in the comments what products you think should be on this list.
#1
The A&W 1/3 pound burger. Too many people can't do fractions, so they thought it was smaller than a quarter pounder. It was the same price as the quarter pounder, so it was actually a better deal.
Image credits: uguystookeveryname
#2
Blockbuster. Streaming services are nice, but the experience of going and looking through physical movies/games was a completely different and engaging experience that I miss.
Image credits: vaccumshoes
#3
The Windows Tablet. No one cared about it when Bill Gates presented it. Years later when Apple presents essentially the same thing, everyone goes nuts.
Image credits: mleclerc182
#4
Altoids Sours...especially tangerine
Image credits: Lex-Talionis
#5
Palm Pilots. They did really well in the late 90's/early 00's. The very second BlackBerry and smartphones came out they couldn't compete and went under.
Image credits: newcleararms
#6
Once upon a time, I liked my Windows Phone.
Image credits: rawketscience
#7
Vienetta. I couldn’t wait to grow up so i could buy my own Vienetta and pig out, i didn’t know id grow up in a world that did not have Vienetta readily available.
#8
Betamax was superior to VHS in most ways but still failed (mostly). I obviously chose the wrong 'side' in the fight but most people still believe it was a better product and survived for a bit until the industry picked one.
Image credits: anon
#9
A vaccine for Lyme disease.
Image credits: Cha05_Th30ry
#10
Netscape Navigator was a great internet browser but unfortunately couldn't compete with IE being bundled on every PC and congress didn't break Microsoft's browser monopoly until after Navigator went away.
Image credits: Deacalum
#11
Zune.
And I usually find Microsoft stuff to be pretty cr*ppy, if I'm honest.
Image credits: ActingGrandNagus
#12
~~Fabreeze~~ Febreze. The only reason they added scents is because people didnt know that the "original" scent (neutral) was doing anything. Everyone thought it wasn't doing anything at all.
Image credits: anon
#13
The Concord
Image credits: Sucondesenutz
#14
Bounce Dryer Bars you would stick on the inside of your dryer and last for over a month replacing individual sheets.
Image credits: TrapperCrapper
#15
Vine.
Image credits: anon
#16
I don't know if it really was good or I was just young, but back around 2000 I had this, I think it was Panasonic, tiny little flip thing. It was one of the first things that was a video camera, still camera, and MP3 player. I've been searching to figure out what it was called for about 10 minutes now, it was amazing, about 3"x3" and had video and still and SD port to put pictures or music on it. I was the coolest kid ever with that thing.
Image credits: anon
#17
The altoids sours candies. I freakin loved those things when I was a kid.
Image credits: dealtdennison
#18
Lime green skittles. sour apple is for a******s.
#19
The Wii U, several of the best games in their respective genres of all time, though most have been ported to the Switch
Image credits: anon
#20
Polaroid cameras. You don't have to go to Walgreens to get them developed and with the newer ones tend to have as high a resolution as a regular digital camera.
Image credits: anon
#21
There was a pancake batter in a whipped cream can I used to buy. It was great, you didn’t need to make a ton of batter just to have some pancakes (good for single people and college students), and it used good quality ingredients (and tasty!).
The reason it failed, I think, was because it was sold exclusively though Whole Foods (IIRC), which isn’t the best market for pancake batter in a whipped cream can.
That, and it was called “Batter Blaster”.
Image credits: Headytexel
#22
MSN Messenger
Image credits: Litchii_Thief
#23
Sega gamegear. It was so far ahead of it's time.
Image credits: tridentloop
#24
I think the Palm Pre was under appreciated and had great features that were ahead of the competition.
Like being able to scroll back and forth through open apps, swipe up to close, wireless charging, and a lot more. WebOS was just great.
It was my first smart phone so maybe I’m just biased. To me it seemed so much more intuitive and versatile than early iOS or Android.
Image credits: Al_of_Somewhere
#25
Angelfire. The best place for sparkly gifs and Buffy the vampire slayer fan-fic before there was Tumblr.
Image credits: bloodysundaystray
#26
I loved Teavana shops, an amazing variety of quality teas in a brick and motor shop, plus cups of tea made to go.
Image credits: harmonica16
#27
McDonald's pizza. Was a huge success but got crushed by order times. Each pizza had to be made to order unlike everything else on the menu.
Maybe my tastebuds are nostalgic but I remember it being the best pizza I ever had as a kid.
Image credits: anon
#28
The Xbox Kinect.
First developed for the 360, instead of showcasing its capabilities they just went full Microsoft and crammed it down everyone’s throats by making it required hardware for the Xbone launch.
Less than two years later it was dead tech.
Whoever ran that campaign should never work in marketing again.
Image credits: big_russ_kane
#29
Google Glass, they were just rushed before their time. Now, we rarely even hear about them, although Google says they’re making a comeback.
Image credits: Alastairos
#30
Supposedly people loved the Zune. And said it was superior in every way to the iPod.
Image credits: anon
#31
SNUGGIES - what happened to those things?
Image credits: yakobwilson
#32
The clapper.
Image credits: anon
#33
Arch Deluxe
Image credits: i_deserve_less
#34
Game Cube for sure.
Oreo O’s breakfast cereal,
Image credits: epic_child
#35
Jell-O Pudding Bites. Those things were like crack to me as a kid. They came with two flavors my favorite was chocolate and vanilla. One day they just disappeared and I never got to say goodbye.
#36
Well I don’t if this counts as a “product”, but Princess and the Frog by Disney was considered a failure because it didn’t make as much money as they had hoped it would. Which was the final push to make them stop making 2D movies
Image credits: tritney
#37
Pebble smartwatches, they recently stopped being supported by Fitbit. I don't think I will be getting anouther smartwatches for a very long time.
Image credits: DiscombobulatedSpork
#38
Anything Microsoft does outside of Windows, Office, Xbox and Azure cloud really. They can't shake the stigma of being an "Office" company that Apple-branded them as long ago they can't seem to get into other markets like phones and gadgets.
Image credits: TheNegotiator12
#39
The Sims Online, i am still waiting for something similar
Image credits: OilerP
#40
I'm gonna say the PS Vita.
There were multiple factors for it failing, but the device itself being of bad quality wasn't one of them (from my understanding).
Image credits: anon
#41
YikYak. It was fun in a dumb way and you could talk s**t and complain anonymously and then they tried to turn it into social media and they k****d it.
Image credits: ohmygod_my_tinnitus
#42
Google+ because of its botched launch.
Image credits: AdvocateSaint
#43
Freespace 2. It was the greatest space sim of all time, with an amazing story, amazing multiplayer, and phenomenal graphics, but it was released when space sims were on the way out. Volition ended up filing for bankruptcy, and the IP is stuck in legal hell, so no word on if we'll ever get a FS3.
Image credits: albus_scirocco
#44
Vault soft drink from Coca Cola. Then they pulled it and pushed Mello Yello in its place. I still miss it.
Image credits: jonnyfixit
#45
Google Reader!
It was such a great RSS reader and a great way to keep up with blogs. After it was pulled, I couldn’t find a replacement and I have since practically stopped reading blogs thanks to that. :(
#46
3D Doritos
#47
MoviePass such a great idea, I wanted it to work so badly but its model is just unsustainable
Image credits: Rainbowmitten37
#48
TITAN FALL 2 BAYBY. Like seriously it’s depressing how good the movement system, mechanics, gun play, and symbiosis you have with your titan and yet it has a very small player base. It’s campaign was astoundingly short yet sweet. It was probably the best fps game of 2016. If you have the Chance check it out. It’s is always on sale. See you on the frontier pilots.
Image credits: 911wuzaninsidejob
#49
Snapchat is on its way to being on this list
Image credits: ellynmeh
#50
A bunch of Wendy's old menu items, specifically their Spicy Chicken Nuggets, Chicken Strips, and Frosty Milkshakes. I remember I lost 2 teeth on the same chicken strip when I was a kid, it was that good!
Image credits: Anonigmus
