On this episode, Quinn and Stephen explore three failed game consoles: the Apple Pippin, Nintendo Virtual Boy and the Ouya.
With its webOS hardware, including the Pre, Pixi and more, Palm (and later HP) tried to take on the giants of the early smartphone wars. While webOS was hugely innovative, it wasn't enough to break into the most important market in consumer electronics.
Electric cars may seem like 21st century tech, but they are far from modern invention. Along the winding path to the present was the GM EV1, the first purpose-designed electric vehicle. It went on sale in 1996, but were all crushed within 10 years.
In the 2000s, the iPod was a true juggernaut, simply dominating the portable music player market. Microsoft wanted a piece of the pie, and launched the Zune 30, which eventually spread into a line of both hardware products and software services.
Today, Apple is well known for its mobile devices like the iPhone and iPad, but in the 1990s, the Macintosh-only company invented the Personal Digital Assistant. However, after five short years, the whole Newton line was cancelled.
On this season of Flashback, we’ll be looking at examples of failed tech products or companies.