A few weeks ago, I wrote about the dangers of losing the impact of an idea based on the current example in front of us. Today, I noticed that ComputerWorld completely validated my post, and provided a ton of new examples. Except they called their article the biggest flops. Let's take a look.
Apple Newton. I have one, for starters. How could it be a flop? But seriously, it ushered in the idea of the full functioning small computer/pda, and the upcoming iPhone is a direct descendent.
Divx. Right idea, wrong execution. Lost in the hype...the idea.
eBooks. Come on, a flop? We are all reading more text on more devices than ever before...it's just a matter of time.
Push Technology. Hello, CW? You note that RSS is, uh, sort of like push but say this is a flop?
Smart Appliances. True, the computer in the fridge thing didn't work out. But the idea of a true appliance with some built in smarts? It's coming...
Virtual Reality. Again, not sure how a set of technologies that is being used extensively by the military, by gamers, by industry could be considered a flop.
To be fair, CW notes its share of true flops. But in so many examples the media should take the blame for focusing so hard on the company, or the ceo, or the device, that they lost sight of what the underlying idea was.