Mac clones, iPod imitations, Newton among top tech flops
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Jan 22, 2008 at 11:06am
Mac clones and iPod imitations are among the “all-time top 25 flops” in the tech industry, according to Infoworld. The article offers a :look back at the last 20 years’ worth of blunders, fumbles, also-rans, and downright disasters that you may have forgotten about—or wish you could.”
iPod imitators come in at number on the list. Here’s Infoworld’s take: “Apple has always been the underdog of the PC market. Maybe that explains the electronics industry’s chronic habit of underestimating the iPod. Would-be competitors have come and gone, but go they do, swiftly, once customers get a gander at their second-rate hardware and atrocious interfaces. From Microsoft’s ugly, feature-hobbled Zune to TrekStor’s abortive plan to release a player under the cringe-inducing moniker i.Beat blaxx, it seems nobody can get it right, even with Apple paving the way.
Frustrated, SanDisk recently resorted to Swift Boat-style attack ads, referring to the Apple faithful as “iChimps.” The question is, is it the iPod they hate? Or the millions of potential customers who refuse to settle for an inferior copy?”
Mac clones come in at number nine on the list. Here’s Infoworld’s take: “Nobody dangled a carrot in front of its customers like Apple did in the late 1990s. For years, the Mac faithful had clamored for alternatives to Apple’s expensive, proprietary hardware. Apple gave its blessing in 1995, and the market flooded with discount Mac clones from the likes of Power Computing, Motorola, and Umax. Then, just two years later, they were gone.
“Fans of the clones fumed, but for Apple the only thing more damaging than this bait-and-switch was greenlighting the clones to begin with. Clone makers used generic PC components, an affront to the Mac’s carefully cultivated image, but their popularity underscored how mediocre Apple’s own offerings had become. As it turned out, what Apple really needed wasn’t alternative manufacturers, but alternative management.”
The Newton comes in at number 16 on the tech flop list. Here’s Infoworld’s take: “Apple Newton. It’s no iPhone, but by some measures the Newton still beats the pants off any PDA since. Rabid fans wax nostalgic about the Newton OS, and breathy rumors of a new Apple PDA remain a staple of Macworld Expos. Alas, the Newton never had a chance. Introduced in 1993, the Newton MessagePads were bulky, with lousy battery life. While Palm and Microsoft’s PDA partners were building devices that could actually fit in your pocket, Apple answered with a full-sized keyboard and a clunky clamshell for the Newton eMate 300 in 1997, then threw in the towel as its losses mounted.
“It’s a shame. With some software tweaks to suit business users, the iPhone and the iPod Touch could get Apple back in the game. But given the bad taste left by Newton, who’d be brave enough to suggest it to Steve now? (Besides us.)”
Apple’s OpenDoc technology comes in at number 22. Here’s Infoworld’s take: “Long before the Cocoa and Carbon APIs earned raves from Mac OS X application developers, Apple put its weight behind another innovative programming technology. Called OpenDoc, it was a way for developers to build applications out of lightweight, modular components. After all, what is a word processor but a text editor, a spell checker, a file manager, and a few other modules all thrown together? With OpenDoc, developers could mix and match, building their applications out of all the best bits.
“Unfortunately, the concept never caught on. As it turned out, most applications weren’t really as modular under the hood as they appeared on the surface—and it didn’t help that those so-called lightweight components turned out to be memory hogs that ran like molasses. After five short years, the book on OpenDoc was closed.”
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
Newtonian Says:
Where on earth did you get the idea that Newtons ever had “lousy battery life”?
Please just look at one URL (there are many, many more):
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9740513-7.html
And then give us a retraction.
Posted on January 22, 2008