Anyone who’s followed Apple for a long time knows the company has not always been the kind of world-beating success it is today. An entire book could be written about Apple’s failures over the years — and there are the doomsday predictions to prove it.
But Apple has succeeded in taking those seemingly disastrous mistakes and learning valuable lessons from them. The graphical user interface of the Apple Lisa? Apple learned that sometimes you need to stick with good ideas for a while before they catch on. The takeaway from Apple’s QuickTake Camera? Rushing to beat everyone else to market isn’t always the best idea.
A new infographic runs down 21 of the biggest Apple flops in history — and what Cupertino learned from them. If you’re a long-time Apple fan it’s a great trip down memory lane. If you’re a newcomer, it’s a fascinating introduction to how Apple has learned from even its most grievous errors and become the undisputed giant it is in 2015.
Source: 7Dayshop
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
6 responses to “How Apple spun success out of its every failure”
A new Apple Tv may be the reincarnation of the Pippin, and the Macintosh TV. If Apple uses the graphics chip there predicted to use, this damn device will be insanely powerful. I’m talking a day I didn’t think I would see for another 3 years. Apple should be using Power Vr’s 7xt series. They announced the 7900 which is actually more powerful than what runs the Xbox One. This damn thing runs at…wait for it… 1.6 frekin tflops. For comparison the Xbox One runs at 1.3 tflops. This would be insane.
Why would you have an iBook photo next to the eMate?
Too many mistakes in this to bother trying to correct it. It should be pulled. Favorite though was the Newton that was started in 1987? Until 1988? Then listed as 11 years. Makes no sense at all and the dates are just flat out wrong among other problems with the item.
Products that last up to 10 or 12 years aren’t flops, so I can’t say that FireWire was a flop, just a competing standard to USB. Unfortunately Apple has a history of guarding it’s toys and not letting other people play with them.
This list is dreadful. Filled with errors. PowerBook 170 is not a version of the Macintosh Portable. The photo next to the eMate section is an original iBook. eWorld @ $100/hour? It was like $5/hour. Was hoping for something better.
By the time OpenDoc was cancelled, it had long been spun out of the ATG group. The fact that the OpenDoc group was laid off at the same time at much of the ATG group had to do with the fact that there were layoffs going on at the company as a whole.