Failed Tech Innovations: 3 Products That Were Ahead of Their Time
Picture this: you pour your heart and soul into an idea you know is revolutionary. A product or idea
Picture this: you pour your heart and soul into an idea you know is revolutionary. A product or idea that can really change the world as we know it, only to watch it crash and burn.
Then years later you watch as a clone of your idea sees mass adoption and someone else profits billions. The tech space is a particularly cruel mistress and an industry where timing can be everything. It is a harsh reality when it comes to tech innovation where products ahead of their time are not always successful.
This article will explore three such cases that serve as warning for tech founders and innovators alike.
Google Glass: The Future That Arrived 10 Years Too Soon
“OK Glass, take a picture.” Those three words were supposed to launch humanity into an augmented reality where computers as we knew them would change. In 2014 tech journalists and early adopters gushed about the product. They eagerly waited to shell out the $1,500 fee to become a beta tester. The ability to record video, display directions, send messages and browse the web, the hype was certainly justified.
However the tech faced some major roadblocks both in tech limitations and social stigma. The battery life was two hours if you were lucky. Platforms and devices didn’t have the interconnectivity that is commonplace today. This coupled with the backlash of a device that recorded people in public was a double whammy google glass never recovered from. Try going to a bar in 2015 wearing these and you would see society was not ready to accept this kind of tech. The term “Glassholes” was quickly becoming commonplace. Fast forward a decade and products like Apple’s vision Pro and Meta’s Rayban glasses have taken AR into the mainstream.
Segway PT: From Flop to Every Street Corner
If Steve Jobs said “future cities would be designed around the device” and the “most amazing piece of technology since the PC” you would have been sure you were on to a winner. Then how did the Segway PT fail in such spectacular fashion? Particularly when you can’t cross the street these days without nearly being mowed down by an E- Scooter or some other micro mobility product.
It was not the idea, the Segway PT was engineering brilliance that correctly predicted the future. The gyroscopic self-balancing technology was genuinely impressive, and the vision of personal urban mobility was spot-on. The issue wasn’t the concept; it was the execution and timing.
At $5,000, the price point was too expensive for mass adoption. The model was bulky and impractical while also being too slow for meaningful transportation. Here the theme of social acceptance and stigma reoccurs. The device was mocked and ridiculed. Labeled with the kiss of death as being “uncool” Don’t feel bad for Segway however as they have rebounded from this and are now a market leader in micro mobility. Next time you see a Lime scooter whizz by you remember the Segway PT did it first.
The Apple Newton the Father of the IPad
The year is 1993 and the Steve Jobs-less Apple is about to give us a window into the future. The Apple Newton had many features that would not be seen again until nearly two decades later.The tech was right there touchscreen interfaces, digital handwriting, personal information management, mobile apps (called “soups”), wireless data syncing, and portable computing. Newton not only predicted the tablet but even the smartphone.
Then what went wrong? Unfortunately Apple was building a 2010s product using early 90s tech. The capabilities just weren’t there yet, Apple had essentially tried to build an iPhone-iPad hybrid 14-17 years before the technology could support the vision. Every component was being pushed beyond its practical limits, creating a device that glimpsed the future of mobile computing but couldn’t quite deliver on its promises.
When Jobs returned in 1997 he axed the project not because he didn’t see the vision. He knew he knew it wasn’t the right time. Apple would come back and build on that initial concept in 2008 with the IPhone and truly realise the core concept with the 2010 IPad. What could have been viewed as a failure actually built a base for all modern devices today. Once mocked and dismissed, The Newton walked so the IPad could run.
The Timing Paradox of Innovation
The creators of these failed tech innovations were certainly ahead of their time.These stories teach us one of the most brutal lessons in entrepreneurship: being right about the future and being successful in the present are completely different realities. Some companies later right these mistakes while some watch others stand on their shoulders and achieve great things. So when you are launching a product always think to yourself “Is the time right?” “Is the world ready?”
