Apple’s iPhone “isn’t the first tech product to generate a deafening amount of buzz before its availability in stores. Here’s our list of the most-hyped tech products of all time. Some thrived, others died, but all generated more than their fair share of ink,” Carolyn Duffy Marsan writes for Network World.
• 1984 – Apple Macintosh: Since its debut in January 1984, the Mac has gone through many design changes, but it has kept its rebel image.
• 1993 – Intel Pentium chip: Intel Inside television ads urged PC buyers to request Pentium processors.
• 1993 – Apple Newton: Former Apple CEO John Sculley will go down in history for coining the phrase “personal digital assistant.”
• 1994 – IBM OS/2 Warp: IBM’s alternative to Microsoft’s Windows operating system never caught on with the masses.
• 1995 – Microsoft Windows 95: Look, ma, I got an upside-down and backwards, counterintuitive, ugly, fake Mac!*
• 1996 – Oracle’s Network Computer: It was supposed to unseat the PC on corporate desktops.
• 2001 – The Segway: Speculation was rampant before award-winning inventor Dean Kamen unveiled his mysterious device code-named Ginger.
• 2002 – Microsoft Tablet PC: Bill Gates’ vision of a tablet PC and digital pen has yet to catch on.
*Susbstitute description by MacDailyNews because Network World wouldn’t dare.
More details and some interesting links in the full article here.
Try as we might, we don’t see Microsoft’s Tablet PC or Oracle’s NC belonging on this list. Do you see anything else that’s missing or undeserving?
Please post a link substantiating that silly claim. And not a link to Rush’s site.
The wheel. Ask Shirley Valentine.
@ron. So you listen to Rush. You know, the talk show genius who the libs in the senate are trying to silence.
Where’s Happy Fun Ball?
The Wii
Vista doesn’t count because it was hyped for nearly a half a decade. Hype typically has a half life of about 6 weeks.
Vista died before it arrived
Let’s not forget the marketing lessons from Osborne. Remember Osborne? First “portable” computer, well luggable at any rate. Osborn1 was a mild success, it truly was a computer you could take from location to location without having to haul also take a 30lb monitor. (Yeah, they were that heavy back then.) Then they announced the Osborne2- 6 months before it was going to be available. Sales sank, old stock sat, new technologies appeared and evolutionary path of the Osborne went the way of the neanderthal.
Oh man, that dudes right, the CueCat totally needs to be on that list.
Bill….
I have a 22″ LaCie CRT monitor and it is 85lbs!
Apple III was a big dud.
MikeK and SumJungGai…
If the oil companies hadn’t bought up 90% of the alternative energy companies in the 70s and suppress their products, we WOULD have solar, wind, hydrogen and every other alternative fuel you can think of. The “trouble” with alternative energy, is you cut the umbilical cord to big corporations and empower local people and economies. That’s NOT what US capitalism is about. Blame Bill and Hillary for that, too!
Their list sucks. Where are all of these…
PlayStation(s) 1, 2 and 3, Wii, Tickle Me Elmo/TMX, Cabbage Patch Kids…
Wow, talk about over-hyped…
SO I check my mailbox an hour after my post and it’s like holy freakme crap, dozens of messages about this post.
I apologize, didn’t mean to make this political. I made a SNIDE remark (deserve’s got nothing to do with it – Eastwod, Unforgiven) and the place falls apart.
But now that you bring it up…
I stand by my list of over-hyped (by the way, it’s media over-hype and not corporate over-hype that qualifies this site’s question…I think).
As one of the responders stated, it actually takes more resources to produce some so-called alternative energy sources.
There is no realistic alternative energy pathway that could possible take the place of what we produce now.
Except maybe fusion – and we’re maybe decades, perhaps even centuries away from figuring it out.
The oil company crack is total Moore-poop.
As is the supporting terrorism because deride the electric/hybrid/helium cars. It’s not just total Moore-poop, it’s insane..oh, wait, Moore-poop is insande.
Ann Coulter’s comment can be found at the msnbc.com site, click on videos, search for coulter hardball and you’ll find the source, eventually. Her quote is taken out of context (like she never does that…), but she said what she said.
I hope the site-moderator doesn’t strike our comments…this is fun.
Oh, and MikeK…it’s a free country…at least until the second coming of Clinton.
I want an iPhone so bad……
Have a nice day!
And don’t forget, like Elmore Leonard wrote in Hombre: We all die. It’s just a question of when.
>: MikeK
Keith –
So what’s your problem with hybrid and electric cars? Or do you really like helping to fund terrorism and totalitarianism with your oil dollars?
Oh, and nice totally unwarranted attack on Sen. Clinton. Very clever. Speaking of unwarranted, did you hear about the subpoenas issued today by Congress. Is the next “i” word out there “iMPEACH”?<
>Sum Jung Gai
MikeK, it doesn’t matter if there is a plan to impeach. Karl Rove is already planning to get Cheney to resign (to spend time with his family or attend his black heart or whatever) so that they can put another evil neocon in his place in time for the election.
By the way, did Ann Coulter really advocate terrorism yesterday?<
>Mr. Reeee
Apple III was a big dud.
MikeK and SumJungGai…
If the oil companies hadn’t bought up 90% of the alternative energy companies in the 70s and suppress their products, we WOULD have solar, wind, hydrogen and every other alternative fuel you can think of. The “trouble” with alternative energy, is you cut the umbilical cord to big corporations and empower local people and economies. That’s NOT what US capitalism is about. Blame Bill and Hillary for that, too!<
The only products on that list that come close to iPhone are
“1984 – Apple Macintosh”
and “1995 – Microsoft Windows 95”
But ALL of the listed products were big news only in their respective markets. Someone who wasn’t into computers would not really care about the Mac or Windows 95. On the other hand, the iPhone is something almost everyone has heard of and has an opinion about.
Actually, you can blame the oil-backed Reagan administration for turning back the clock on alternative energy research. His first official act in office was to remove from the White House roof the solar panels that Carter had installed. And he cut alternative energy research from the DOE by 90%.
Imagine where we’d be today if the energy independence programs that Carter started had been allowed to flourish for the last 30 years… not Iraq or Iran, that’s where!
Back to topic:
The Wii is so far fulfilling its hype (although in this case I think the hype was corporate – the media didn’t cite it more than PS3 in most articles until consumer demand took off).
Personally, I think it will be the Pet Rock of the year. My kids love it after playing it at a relative’s house. I think eventually they would tire of it if they could’t get more games for it. My son will play PS2 RPG games over and over (out of boredoom, admittedly), but somehow I don’t think the Wii games will do the same.
The verdict is still out on Wii.
PS: Sum Jung Gai – if you’re going to cite Prez Carter as an example, then you must be talking about a) an insane asylum, or b) communism.
The only thing nuttier than either is VP Gore. That guy is whack! His screw is so loose it’s rolling on the floor.
You still didn’t address the main point – there is no magic energy pill (even Viagra) for our energy needs. Do some research by reading opposing views (like I do) before making a decision or defending one.
“Jeez, do I gotta’ do everything around here?” Moe from The 3 Stooges.
Now that Keith cleared that up, we can all go home now. Move it along, nothing to see here…
PS2?
some of the game consoles are missing, the PS2, and probably the fab/fun WII.
but the iPhone is probably the most anticipated product since the web was created (it’s hard to compare pre/post web hype)
the Segway comes second, but what a disappointment !, i was expecting a new energy source, something really magical.
and unlike the Segway, the iPhone hysteria was created by bloggers, not by Apple, Jobs would probably have announced it later if the expectations weren’t so high in January.
Microsoft Bob was in fact loved by its target audience, those who find regular WIMP interfaces intimidating. The scorn of more technical reviewers (who were clearly not part of that target audience) removed one option for these people and set back research on alternate interfaces by a decade.