1. eWorld eworld
Topping our list is one of Apple’s most ambitious projects that soon slipped into obscurity. Most of our readers would have not have heard of eWorld - a project that intended to integrate Mac users into an online community. It was launched on June 20, 1994 and was dead barely two years later. eWorld provided an isolated online environment for Mac customers with a proprietary browser and email system that drew news headlines from outside sources. At its height, eWorld had 115,000 customers compared with AOL’s 3.5 million. The objective of eWorld was to become a prominent ISP. However, Apple’s approach flopped with its exorbitant price tag of $8.95 for two hours of off-peak access. Web surfing functionality was not even implemented until 1995.
Apple would lose out to AOL which would become the main ISP over the course of the decade, but even AOL failed to adapt, and was eventually doomed with its dial-up technology. It’s fair to say the eWorld’s fast failure, spared the corporation additional heart sorrow in the future if it had caught on.
2. iTunes Ping itunesping
One of the more distinguishing failures on our list is iTunes Ping, a music based social networking software that was embedded into the iTunes Desktop player. Introduced in September of 2010, iTunes Ping was billed as a “social network for music.” With the development of the likes of Facebook, Apple pushed to convert its almost 160 million iTunes customers onto Ping. The outcome was barely two million subscribers of Ping and the fast designation of its failure.
And although the first concept held the seeds of services like Spotify, Apple failed to develop Ping adequately with it acting as more of simply another way to acquire tunes from iTunes. Ping lacked the peer to peer socializing feature that made other social networking services so successful. Tim Cook finally stopped the service, but has tripled down on Apple’s expansion inside the music market with the introduction of Apple Music during the previous year.
3. Macintosh TV mactv
Another integration endeavour that would end in failure was the Macintosh TV. Further proof why specialization is so crucial with goods, the Mac TV was Apple’s first effort at computer-television integration. Most notably, it was the first Macintosh to be manufactured in black and came with a special black keyboard and mouse.
It was released in 1993, but was cancelled barely a year later. The fundamental issue of the product was its inability to present television feeds in a desktop window. Estimates are that just 10,000 units were sold of the 14 inch combination of a Sony Trinitron television and an Apple Performa 520.
4. MobileMe mobileme
The failure of MobileMe’s debut was so monumental that Steve Jobs convened with the whole MobileMe team in the campus auditorium and dismissed the manager of the project on the spot. After the event, engineers of the project have alleged that Jobs was himself the reason of the product’s failure. MobileMe was supposed to provide the remote access and control of email, contacts, calendar, photographs, and files.
Its introduction was faced with challenges, however Erin Caton – the Engineering Project Manager on the MobileMe project has indicated that these problems were raised but Jobs had established a culture where staff could not voice their concerns. Caton claims that the technical team advised management that they were not certain about the launch date. Soon enough MobileMe was no more, ultimately being replaced by the iCloud system.
0 Comments