July 17th, 2009
The decade's biggest tech flops: Funny how Sony and Microsoft dominate
We’ve compiled a gallery of the decade’s biggest tech flops and it’s quite notable how Sony and Microsoft dominate (and not in a good way).
That said Sony has clearly run off with the flop charts. Microsoft has my all-time favorite flop though: SPOT.
Remember those glorious watches and kitchen utensils?
I’m sure we could add a few more Microsoft gems to the list, but let’s examine the Sony duds because they are much more prevalent.
There’s the dreaded Mylo:
Silly digital video formats:
The Vaio UMPC:
And the list continues. The lesson here is that it’s very difficult to be all things to all people. Sony—and Microsoft to a lesser degree–has its hands in so many pots that it creates products that try to keep multiple divisions in the company happy. In the end you have a device that includes the kitchen sink and does nothing well.
This list, cooked up by CNET’s David Carnoy, has a consumer bent to it. What are your biggest tech flops of the decade?
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 07/17/09
