Samsung Galaxy Note 7

In 2016, things went horribly wrong with the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 which had a habit of catching fire or exploding.

  • Launched: 2016 What happened? Explosions and lots of them

Triumph Dolomite

Over 103,000 cars had to be recalled after it was discovered that a flaw in the design meant the car would become impossible to control after a minor crash.

  • Launched: 1972 What happened? A design flaw meant the car would be undrivable after a minor crash

Google Glass

Glass lead to plenty of concerns over privacy and the product was also banned from many public spaces. In the end, Google Glass was doomed. 

  • Launched: 2013 What happened? People weren’t too keen on the potential privacy invasion

Ford Pintos

Ford recalled 1.5 million Pintos after it was discovered a rear-end crash could cause the car to turn into a deadly fireball.

  • Launched: 1978 What happened? The car was found to be likely to explode in a deadly fireball

Apple Pippin

Essentially an expensive console, it was doomed to failure as it had to compete with the incredibly popular Sony PlayStation and Nintendo 64.

  • Launched: 1995 What happened? Apple launched a games console in the time of the PlayStation and Nintendo 64, things did not end well

  • Apple’s greatest failures: From AirPower to the Pippin, these are Apple’s unloved devices

Microsoft Windows Vista

Windows Vista was generally loathed and not widely adopted. As a result, Microsoft quickly released Windows 7 just a couple of years later. 

  • Launched: 2006 What happened? The new operating system launched to negative reviews and poor user experience complaints.

  • A brief history of Microsoft Windows

De Havilland Comet

In the late 1940s, in the wake of World War II, De Havilland created the de Havilland 106 Comet - the first commercial jetliner. It was plagued with problems.

  • Launched: 1949 What happened? Several fatal crashes and disasters lead to a bad start for the first jetliner

DeLorean DMC-12

Despite the fame, there was a lack of demand for the car and costs of manufacture as well as other problems harmed the business which went bankrupt in 1982.

  • Launched: 1981 What happened? Despite the cool association with Back to the Future, the car was a little too unusual and proved unpopular.

Apple Newton

The Apple Newton was a PDA that launched in the early 1990s. It didn’t do well though as the software didn’t live up to the promise and it was overpriced

  • Launched: 1993 What happened? Software problems meant it wasn’t as good as other PDAs released around the time

Facebook Home

Facebook released an app for Android phones that was designed to transform the home screen into a direct portal into Facebook. But it was clunky and loathed.

  • Launched: 2013 What happened? Facebook thought users would like to immerse themselves fully in Facebook. It was wrong.

Microsoft Zune

Although it might not be fair to call the Zune a flop, it did struggle to compete in the market due to Apple’s dominance with the iPod.

  • Launched: 2006 What happened? Microsoft’s attempt to compete with the Apple iPod was doomed from the start

Google+

Google+ was interesting and had several useful features, but nothing stood out enough to get people to move away from Facebook.

  • Launched: 2011 What happened? Google launched its own social network to compete with Facebook but with very little to stand out

Nintendo Virtual Boy

Nintendo took a bold leap into the world of virtual 3D gaming with the Virtual Boy. Alas, the concept was way ahead of its time, but the design was not. 

  • Launched: 1995 What happened? Nintendo launched a product way before its time.

Intel Pentium processors

In 1994, Intel was forced to recall the original Intel Pentium processors when a serious bug was discovered known as Pentium FDIV bug.

  • Launched: 1994 What happened? A bug lead to calculation errors in the original Pentium processors that rendered them inaccurate

Burger King Poké Balls

In the 1990s Burger King released a promotional kids toy that was later deemed to be a hazard to children. 25 million had to be recalled.

  • Launched: 1999 What happened? Burger King released Pokémon themed toys with kids meals but the toys came in a container that was deemed a choking hazard.

LaserDisc

LaserDisc proved too costly. It struggled to compete against the likes of VHS and Betamax and only 16.8 million discs were ever sold.

  • Launched: 1978 What happened? LaserDisc was set to replace VHS but was too expensive and failed before it started.

The Thomas and Friends Wooden Railway toys

Some Thomas and Friends Wooden Railway toys had to be recalled after it was discovered that lead paint had been used in making them that could poison kids.

  • Launched: 2007 What happened? Thomas the tank engine toys had to be recalled after lead was found in the paint

Friendster

Friendster is another social media site that had lofty aims but failed to gain traction.

  • Launched: 2002 What happened? Despite some success, Friendster failed to innovate and keep up with Facebook

Curious George plush dolls

Around 175,000 Curious George dolls had to be recalled due to “excessive levels of lead” being used in the construction.

  • Launched: 2005 What happened? Marvel Toys was forced to recall thousands of Curious George toys due to the risk of lead poisoning

Fisher-Price massive recall

Mattel’s Fisher-Price had to recall 10 million toys in 2010 due to the risk of potential injury to users.

  • Launched: 2010 What happened? Mattel had to recall around 10 million toys due to risk of serious injury

Microsoft Bob

Microsoft Bob was a basic operating system with a supposedly easy-to-use interface but it was also a bit power hungry and couldn’t run on many machines.

  • Launched: 1995 What happened? Microsoft released a dumbed-down operating system for the masses that was too intensive for most home computers

Sega Dreamcast

The Dreamcast was fantastic and was way ahead of its time but it failed to sell well probably due to stiff competition from Sony with the original PlayStation.

  • Launched: 1999 What happened? Somehow Sega’s dominance came to an end with the Dreamcast

Apple Lisa

Apple spent about $50 million developing a high-end computer aimed at businesses. It came with an astronomical price tag though ($9,995) too much for most.

  • Launched: 1983 What happened? Apple released a computer with an astronomical price tag that was far too much for consumers to bear

Betamax

Betamax lost out because the company behind it (Sony) refused to licence its technology to other companies.

  • Launched: 1975 What happened? Another format war that ended with a loser and a victor

Dell laptops

In 2006 Dell was forced to recall nearly 3 million laptops due to problems with defective batteries that were overheating and leading to fires.

  • Launched: 2006 What happened? Dell had to recall millions of laptops due to defective batteries

Toyota floor mats

Toyota had an issue that meant that the accelerator pedal was getting stuck under the floor mat and leading to the car accelerating unexpectedly.

  • Launched: 2009 What happened? Toyota was forced to recall over 8 million vehicles due to a problem with the accelerator pedal getting stuck on floor mats

Jibo the internet connected bot

Jibo was a cutesy connected home robot that could dance and perform while talking to users.  It became obsolete in 2019 when the servers were shut down.

  • Launched: 2019 What happened? Servers were shut down in 2019 rendering the device obsolete.

One Laptop Per Child

One Laptop Per Child set out with the altruistic goal of producing $100 laptops for children in the third world but it was clunky and hard to repair.

  • Launched: 2007 What happened? The project’s goals were just a bit too lofty.

Hot Wheels computers

  • Launched: 1999 What happened? Mattel made a push to market both Hot Wheels and Barbie computers that went horribly wrong.

Hoverboards

  • Launched: 2015 What happened? Various issues including some catching fire