Top 10 worst Apple products of the decade? Maybe not
Smell the fail. Here’s a list of purportedly the worst Apple products of the last 10 years, which sounds like an easy task until one considers these products in the broader context. That is, there are plenty of companies out there that would love to have had “losers” just like these.
CIO, generally not a site one associates with link bait trash, has gone trolling for some controversy to fatten their click rates and page views this holiday.
Off the mark? Here’s why:
1. The G4 cube — the original ultra-compact, highly efficient desktop
— This is a product that was way, way ahead of its time, much like the Newton. Although it didn’t sell well, certainly deserves a better place in history than a “worst of” list.
2. iPod v2* — the less than perfect sophomore effort
— I think they nailed this one, but this product was still one highly successful step along the road to world domination of the media player market segment that was way, way better and vastly more successful than any of its contemporaries.
3. iPod nano v3 — shaped differently
— My daughter and I beg to differ as it’s a product that’s actually designed to be held in a human hand (of all things). Also, the relative unpopularity of this model led to rather cheap refurbished prices—we bought several.
4. Apple TV — this product’s competitors should be so lucky
— Abject failure? Horrible product? Whereas it’s absolutely true the Apple TV needs a serious dose of direction and hardware updating, it’s still far and away the market leader.
5. MobileMe — Apple’s pay-to-play online service
— If you don’t like and can’t see the value in doing things in an absolutely seamless way, then by all means complain. But your lack of vision and inability to value efficiency don’t represent a meaningful judgment on those who aren’t thusly impaired.
6. Spotlight — desktop search redefined
— Like Sherlock, Spotlight changed desktop search. It’s incredibly unsexy, but Spotlight is the gold standard.
7. ROKR* — the first iTunes enabled phone that presaged Motorola’s decline to near irrelevance
— They nailed this one, too. What a P.O.S..
8. iPod Hi-Fi* — Steve threw away his home stereo for this (right)
— How did this product ever made it out is beyond me.
9. iPod socks — cute and useful
— Not a horrible product by any stretch of the imagination that helped jump start the “made for iPod” ecosystem.
10. Mighty Mouse — a real attempt at input device innovation
— Perhaps not the best mouse ever, but Apple is actually trying to innovate which matters more than a box full of Logitech or Microsoft input devices, and the hundreds of useless buttons and “features” those products offer.
I rate CIO’s worst of list three* out of 10 — a clear failure. But, they weren’t trying to put together a real list; it’s just link bait and, thereupon, should be avoided…
What’s your take?
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December 24th, 2009
The problem with CIO’s original list was that I couldn’t tell how they defined “failure”. Some products got on the list because they didn’t sell well, some because they didn’t work well.
I’ll give them the ROKR, the Hi-Fi, and the iPod v2 (like you did). They’re also correct on the Mighty Mouse – a great ideal that failed (for me) because it just stopped working. I eventually gave up using it, which is a failure in my book.
But the iPod socks? A failure? I don’t have any but if you’ve sunk so low as to hate knitwear, you need to just relax.
December 24th, 2009
I not sure I would even give them the ROKR, even though it was a P.O.S. since it really was a Motorola product that included iTunes with it. I believe Apple didn’t really like it but used it as a learning experience to get the iPhone about right.
December 25th, 2009
http://www.theapplecollection.com/design/macdesign/iPodV2.html
Took me awhile to find the V2,