Top 10 successful inventions that just up and Died

Top 10 Successful Inventions That Just Up And Died

10 TiVo
In the dark days before devices like TiVo were introduced, it wasn’t easy to record live television. And just ignore pausing it to travel to the toilet or grab a snack. TiVo changed all that with its introduction of digital video recorder technology, which revolutionized how we watch television.With a TiVo attached to your TV, you may record multiple channels directly, making it almost impossible to miss a favourite show. Even more impressive, the system made it possible to skip commercials, a feature that everybody appreciated.[1]TiVo’s branding was so successful that it became a verb. People would say that they “TiVo’d” something to observe later. Unfortunately, it absolutely was to not last. As digital technology continued to grow, DVRs became largely unnecessary.TiVo adapted to the days, albeit slowly, and saw its market share drop considerably. Then, in 2016, Rovi picked up TiVo for a cool $1.1 billion and altered Rovi’s name to TiVo Corporation.As the new TiVo Corporation focused on licensing its technology instead of producing hardware, it became a lovely company itself. In 2020, TiVo Corporation completed a $3 billion merger with Xperi Corporation, a firm that specialized in licensing tech and holding. The new company is termed Xperi Holding Corporation.The combined entity will still use the TiVo brand for consumer-facing digital entertainment products and services. But not the initial TiVo digital video recorder that numerous people knew and loved. That’s a tech dinosaur tired by the asteroid of progress.
9_google glass.

Google Glass debuted with a large amount of media attention and buzz in 2012. The company’s flashy product demo included skydivers streaming their jumps through the device.The product was marketed the maximum amount for its novelty and exclusivity as for its technology, and also the public ate it up. So-called “Glass Explorers” got an opportunity to demo a prototype for one month before it absolutely was made available to the general public. Tech enthusiasts clamored for his or her set.Google Glass had an integrated 5-megapixel still/720p video camera. However, that core feature was also a big problem. Privacy concerns arose when the merchandise first became popular because the device was technically violating existing privacy laws in some areas.Another major consider ending Google Glass was its hefty $1,500 tag. All the fanfare and widespread public interest within the device died out rather quickly. By 2015, Google Glass was effectively dead as a consumer device.
8_my space.

At just one occasion, almost everyone with an online connection had a Myspace page. The social media platform was the primary of its kind. From 2005 until 2009, it absolutely was the biggest within the world and boasted over 100 million users per month. In 2005, it absolutely was purchased by News Corporation for $580 million.Myspace was as ubiquitous then as Google and Facebook are now, and it absolutely was a moneymaking machine. In 2008, the corporate generated $800 million in revenue. it absolutely was valued at $12 billion at its height, making it one in all the biggest Internet tech companies on the earth. But it wasn’t to last.[3]Despite being an influential innovator within the realm of social media, Myspace saw a marked decline in users in 2009 and beyond. Facebook came out of nowhere to supplant Myspace because the go-to social media network, and that’s remained true for over a decade.Myspace was sold in 2011 to Specific Media Group and Justin Timberlake via a joint purchase for $35 million. The sharp decline within the company’s valuation couldn’t are more apparent. Technically, Myspace remains around. It does generate ad revenue but far but at its peak.
7_pebble

Although many of us reading this are probably wearing an Apple or Samsung smartwatch, there’s an opportunity that somebody is wearing a Pebble. Back in 2012, Pebble became the foremost funded Kickstarter product of all time when its creators raised $10 million on the platform.At the time, smartwatches were just getting down to surface on the market. Through the Kickstarter campaign, Pebble was able to cultivate a large following. The influx of cash made it possible for the corporate to innovate its concept further, and backers began receiving their watches in early 2013.From there, the corporate launched more watches on to the general public and even initiated another Kickstarter campaign in 2015 that generated $20.3 million. Pebble was making money and looked to solidify its place within the smartwatch marketplace.By the subsequent year, Pebble was nigh gone. Financial issues necessitated the return of funds received via Kickstarter, and everything was pack up by December 2016.Fitbit purchased the company’s holding, and Pebble is now defunct. Pebble failed thanks to lack of capital and Apple’s entry into the marketplace, which siphoned off Pebble’s customers when Apple expanded the market.But from the ashes of Pebble rose the phoenix of Rebble. Ex-employees, fans, and developers congregated on GitHub to exchange the online services formerly provided by Pebble for his or her smartwatches. Although the first Pebble hardware will eventually die, this motivated coterie of “rebbles” intends to make a RebbleOS to run on a future version of watch hardware.Rebble’s competitive advantage is unclear at this time. The group’s inspiration, Pebble, was initially meant to compete at a far cheaper price point than Apple products. Also, as developer Joshua Wise explained:The Apple Watch . . . and Android Wear wanted you to interact with them, to form them the middle of your life. The Pebble wants to not in any respect be a part of your life, up until it does something useful for you, then it enables you to return to your life.[4]

6_Nintendo Virtual Boy

Nintendo has created a number of the world’s most innovative ways to play video games. the corporate brought back the game industry following the market crash within the early 1980s, but not everything made by Nintendo is worth it. The Wii U, as an example, was an enormous failure. But it barely registers compared to the disaster that was the Virtual Boy.In 1995, Nintendo released one in every of its strangest, most uncomfortable, and most terribly designed products of all time within the Virtual Boy. The device was marketed as a video game kind of gaming, but it wasn’t virtual the least bit. Instead, it offered stereoscopic 3D glasses, like those found in movie theaters, to display 32-bit red graphics.[5]Players would lean into the head-mounted system and play with the attached controller. The system used a parallax effect to simulate the illusion of depth, but all it really did was give players a pounding headache.When it absolutely was released, the Virtual Boy was touted as an innovation in video game gaming. But the system was terrible. It hit the market in an incomplete state because the corporate wanted to specialise in the Nintendo 64. Only 22 games were made, and therefore the system was canceled within a year.
5_NAPSTer.

People are illegally copying software ever since it had been possible to try to to so. the identical is true of digital music, which rose in popularity during the 1990s because of MP3s. People downloaded and shared this music widely on multiple platforms. But the foremost popular one was Napster.The company was founded in 1999 and have become the first source for peer-to-peer file sharing online. At its peak, this wildly popular software had around 80 million registered users. Of course, it wasn’t without controversy. Napster became the target of legal concerns when Metallica sued.The band was followed by Dr. Dre et al., but the publicity only served to extend Napster’s use. Most cases were settled out of court. But one made it through the system to nail the platform with hefty fines and an injunction, which caused the corporate to finish off in 2002.[6]Once the fines were paid, Napster came back online and eventually sold its assets to Bertelsmann for $85 million. Several years later, Best Buy acquired Napster for $121 million, but the corporate has since been sold to MelodyVR.As of 2020, their strategy has shifted far from a direct-to-consumer model. Instead, the new company appears to be delivering music streaming through business partners who may white label the service. think about it like your market selling products to you under their store name when the products are literally manufactured by other companies. As of this writing, zombie Napster is doing that with music streaming.
4_MapQuest

Before everyone had a GPS tracker in their pockets, people used an archaic technology referred to as a paper map to urge around. Until the 21st century, the general public had a map or two in their cars in the least times, but MapQuest changed all that—sort of.MapQuest went online in 1996, and it offered free mapping services to its customers. People could move to the web site, enter their destination, and print out a map with step-by-step instructions on the way to get there.Before MapQuest became popular, an individual could only depend on someone else’s directions to search out their way or use a road map to see their route prior to. MapQuest was innovative and widely used. AOL purchased the corporate in 2000 for $1.1 billion.[7]By 2008, the majority who had previously relied on MapQuest for guidance shifted to using other programs. Google Maps took over the marketplace, and MapQuest mostly disappeared, having been supplanted by GPS tech.Granted, MapQuest did adapt to GPS. Although the corporate continues to form atiny low profit, it’s far in need of where it had been at the turn of the century.
3_PalmPilot

Photo credit: Rama & Musee Bolo
These days, a telephone is a smaller amount a phone and more an incredibly small and powerful computer that happens to create phone calls. Back within the ’90s, however, the concept of a computer within the pocket was considered far-fetched—that is, until the PalmPilot was launched.In 1996, the initial PalmPilot Personal Digital Assistant was released. Consumers marveled at its incredible capabilities, which seem antiquated compared to what’s available today. the first Palms didn’t have backlit screens and were limited by a maximum of 512 KB of RAM and serial communications ports.Although these devices were comparably archaic, they were technological marvels for the time. the general public ate them up. PalmPilots made it possible to arrange schedules, send and receive email (eventually), send things to printers, and take notes. in order that they were highly valued within the world of business.The company survived into the 21st century, but Palm technology was quickly surpassed by advancements in smartphones. HP acquired Palm in 2010 but destroyed it by 2011.Then HP sold the Palm trademark to Chinese conglomerate TCL. They’re trying to revive the Palm brand, but it holds little sway within the marketplace as few people are looking to exchange their smartphones with a Palm.[8]
2_Betamax

Today, with the push of a button, you'll be able to watch almost anything at any time. But it wasn’t always like that. Released in 1975, the primary product that allow an oversized number of consumers record and watch programs later was the Betamax.The following year, JVC’s rival format, VHS, was introduced. Even at that time happened, Sony’s Betamax technology was the gold standard in video and playback. It revolutionized how people consumed television within the 1970s and early ’80s.As VHS was a competitor, the legendary “videotape format war” broke out between Sony and JVC to see which might dominate the marketplace. Betamax had superior recording quality with 250 lines vs. VHS’s 240. But within the end, that didn’t matter. Cost became the foremost important factor.[9]Despite being a superior format, Betamax lost the videotape format war just because the equipment was costlier. Consumers wanted something cheaper, and that’s what they came VHS.Betamax is lang syne defunct as a recording technology. For a time, though, it absolutely was one amongst the foremost innovative and important media technologies ever invented since the tv. These days, few people under 40 know much about it. But the identical can be said of VHS as time goes on.
1_Segway

In 2001, Dean Kamen introduced the planet to the Segway, a two-wheeled, self-balancing personal transportation device. The so-called “human transporter” was arguably a fantastic invention. It offered a method of commuting within an urban environment in an innovative way.[10]The Segway became a popular culture icon rapidly. it absolutely was featured in an episode of South Park and lots of other shows and films. Steve Jobs once called it “as big a deal because the PC,” which was high praise coming from him. Later, he retracted his statement by saying the Segway “sucked.”Still, the Segway was an enormous deal initially. With its recharge time of 4 to 6 hours and a top speed of 16 kilometers per hour (10 mph), it had been a handy device. Although the general public liked the Segway, it had been prohibitively expensive, costing around $5,000 or more for a replacement unit.Instead of becoming a replacement mode of transportation for people within the city, Segways became the new way that security personnel got around. There are Segway tours in many cities. But the merchandise never managed to become the subsequent personal consumer device. Segway was discontinued in 2020.