A Decade of "Meh" Gadgets

At The Review Crew, we love gadgets. I believe it’s a job requirement. There’s just something special about a piece of technology that is shiny and new and provides a “solution” (even if you didn’t think you had a problem to begin with). But, the sad reality is that a gadget’s long-term existence is rarely guaranteed. In fact, many flop right out of the gate, and if they get further than that, they run the risk of failure for any number of reasons: high cost, poor marketing or the lack of a market the developers thought existed.

And in the past ten years, we’ve seen many gadgets make the trash heap. Fast Company has helped us start a good list of them by picking their top ten gadgets that just didn’t last. Remember Modo, the LCD hipster city guide from the turn of the century? Yeah, me neither.

They’ve also included technologies that just wouldn’t stick like DVD Audio and HD-DVD which died in the format war fire. A couple of gadgets made the list, like the MSN Direct SPOT Wristwatches, that make me think “hey, that is kinda cool”, but only too late as Microsoft has already decided to drop support after six years of weak sales.

But, I must say that I was honestly surprised by a couple of gadgets on the list. Apple TV, in particular, is still pretty cool and I know a few people who love and use their Apple TV all the time. It seems I hang with the minority when it comes to that one.

The full list is below. Any gadgets you feel shouldn’t be there? Any missing?

1. Modo (2000)
2. DVD-Audio and SACD (2000)
3. Pepper Pad (2003) – Linux-based, funky-looking mobile computer that just couldn’t compete against the massive laptop market
4. Nokia N-Gage (2003) – You know, that cell phone portable gaming device that was ahead of its time and now looks too old to replace your iPhone.
5. MSN Direct SPOT Wristwatches (2004) – Microsoft technology that feeds real-time, localized information to your Tissot, Suunto, Fossil, or Swatch watch.
6. Palm LifeDrive (2005) – Oh, Palm. Just too late to the party with their suped-up personal assistant that did everything a smartphone could do except for more money and less memory.
7. Oqo (2005) – A handheld PC that is arguably the precursor of today’s netbooks… for a low-low price of $3,000.
8. HD-DVD (2006)
9. Sony Mylo (2006) – A Skype-friendly mobile internet device that just didn’t make the cut in the smartphone battles
10. Apple TV (2007) – Connect direct to iTunes and stream all your multimedia from your home Mac network. A cool tech, but even my home decided against it in favour of doing similar stuff with our game console.

[via Fast Company]