Top 20 Worst Product FAILS of the Century (So Far)
Welcome to WatchMojo and today we’re counting down our picks for the worst product fails of the 21st century so far.
#20: Zune
Some may have fond memories of 2006’s Microsoft Zune. In fact, some will argue that the Zune was better than the rival Apple iPod, especially when it came to its interface and innovative social sharing features. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the Zune wasn’t quite different enough to the iPod, and their marketing simply wasn’t aggressive enough. And there were some fundamental coding errors too, like how first gen Zune models froze because the internal clock couldn’t handle a leap year. I mean, that’s not Y2-okay Microsoft. That was a bit of a stretch wasn’t it? The Zune consistently underperformed until it was discontinued in 2012, with Microsoft completely retiring the Zune music download and streaming service in 2015.
#19: Burger King’s Satisfries
McDonald’s vs. Burger King
The healthy fast food market is a tough nut to crack - and Burger King found out the hard way in 2013 when it launched Satisfries, a healthier alternative to its traditional french fries offering. Satisfries were made with less porous batter, which meant they absorbed less oil, and were therefore slightly better for you. But Burger King struggled to properly convey the difference to its customers, which meant they didn’t sell. Satisfries were also more expensive than the regular Burger King french fries, which probably didn't help either. In a rather feeble attempt to promote the new food type in October 2013, Burger King changed its name to “Fries King” on Twitter… Lol.
#18: Mobile ESPN
The Rise of Mobile Phones
Nope, we’re not talking about an ESPN app, we’re talking about an actual ESPN phone. The idea behind 2005’s Mobile ESPN was that sports fans would buy the Sanyo MVP flip phone - a specially-adapted ESPN version of the Sanyo MM-9000 - and they would then be able to experience a unique interface with all sorts of stats and scores on-the-go. The first stumbling block here was the phone itself, which was expensive at around $400 - and it was inferior as an everyday device when compared to models from Nokia and Sony Ericsson. Customers would also have to pay a costly monthly subscription fee of $40. Understandably, the service didn’t take off, and only lasted about a year.
#17: Orkut
There was a short period of time where people thought the Google-owned Orkut was going to be the next big social media thing, and knock MySpace off its perch. The Orkut site was a lot like MySpace, allowing users to create their own unique profiles, themes, add pictures and videos, send messages and choose a “crush list”. It launched in 2004, but arguably peaked around 2009 with more than 300 million users. So what went wrong? Well, in a word, Facebook. The simplicity of the Zuckerberg mammoth was just more appealing. Orkut also suffered from privacy issues and controversies surrounding hate group pages. Orkut was officially shut down in 2014 and, well, Facebook wasn’t.
#16: Heinz EZ Squirt
Ah yes, remember this one? In the year 2000, Heinz injected some fun into our ketchup regime by adding funky colors to the famed condiment, and branding it Heinz EZ Squirt. These colorful sauces were an instant hit, especially with kids, who lathered hot dogs, burgers and fries in blues, greens and purples. The fad wore off quite quickly however, and some were insistent that Heinz EZ Squirt bottles just didn’t taste like their beloved tomato ketchup, regardless of what the packaging said - that was probably due to all the food coloring. The EZ Squirt run lasted just six years, although a green ketchup did rear its head in 2012 as part of a St. Patrick’s Day Burger King promotion.
#15: Amazon's Fire Phone
Top 10 Banned Things On Amazon
The Fire Phone was Amazon’s first stab at the smartphone market, and at launch in 2014, it aimed to topple the iPhone. It was highly anticipated by tech fans everywhere - but the enthusiasm didn’t last long. The Android device received negative press as soon as consumers got their hands on it. Its high price tag, lack of apps and its largely useless 3D features, left phone fans puzzled, and annoyed. The Fire Phone also had lots of features that steered users towards buying things on the Amazon store - which again, didn’t go down well. The Fire Phone only lasted about a year on the market.
#14: Google Lively
Top 10 Most Searched Questions On Google
People like to live within virtual worlds - there’s a solid track record of it. But Google Lively just wasn’t one of those worlds. Lively was designed to give users a new way to interact with friends and their avatars via their browsers. However, controlling your virtual self in Lively was difficult, the personalization options were limited, and the overall virtual world was just meh. The platform also only had around 10,000 active users right before it was shut down, and many users were doing everything but chatting nicely within the Lively universe. It launched in its beta iteration in July 2008, and unfortunately, didn’t make it past that stage. Google pulled the plug on its Lively occupants in December of the same year.
#13: HP TouchPad
Top 30 Worst Product FAILS of All Time
HP is still a juggernaut when it comes to computing - but it doesn’t have the greatest history with tablet devices. We are of course talking about the failed HP TouchPad, a device that flopped so bad it was pulled from shelves just 49 days after its 2011 launch. There were fundamental issues with the TouchPad, such as lackluster performance, not enough apps and a high price tag ranging between $500 to $700. But really, its main issue was the existence of the iPad - yep, Apple is here yet again to burst another bubble. The iPad cost the same as the TouchPad, and already had a year of marketing and sales under its belt. There was just simply no competition. They had to Hewlett-Pack it in. Okay, that was worse than the Y2K one.
#12: Coca-Cola BlāK
Top 5 Famous Coca-Cola Myths
We’ve probably all heard of New Coke that flopped in the 80s, right? And what about Diet Coke Plus from 2007? Yikes. One Coke variant you might not have heard of however is Coca-Cola BlāK, a coffee-flavored version of the fizzy beverage. The unusual drink launched in 2006 and was discontinued in 2008. And there were several reasons it didn’t catch on - but the main reason seems to be the taste. Customers complained that Coca-Cola BlāK had a strong aftertaste and was overly sweet. Coke even tried to reformulate the drink for different markets, but it didn’t really help. The brand later introduced Coca-Cola with Coffee in 2021, although that faced a similar fate.
#11: Google+
Top 10 Creepiest Things Found On Google Earth
This was Google’s attempt to take on Facebook, and was a natural progression from Google Wave - another social-based foray that flopped in 2012. Google+ didn’t really offer anything particularly unique to Facebook, except maybe for a way to group things like friends and photos together using Circles. It was launched in 2011 and initially did pretty well, with people everywhere glad to add another string to the bow of their social media arsenal. But like a lot of other social platforms, Google+ just kind of faded into obscurity, unable to distinguish itself from the Facebook colossus. Surprisingly, its full decline took a long time, with Google+ only being shut down in 2019.
#10: Samsung Galaxy Note 7
iPhone X VS Samsung Galaxy Note 8 - Gear Up^
The Note 7 was initially seen as a superb, iPhone-battling worthy entry into the smartphone market when it was launched in 2016. And the Note devices before it, and the ones that came after it, are also highly regarded. So what went wrong with the Note 7? Well, shortly after the Note 7’s launch, people started reporting that their devices were overheating, catching fire and in some cases, exploding. This dangerous feature was due to a fault with the phone’s battery. And the issue became so significant that the Department of Transportation made taking a Note 7 on a commercial flight illegal. Samsung had to recall around 2.5 million Note 7 devices as a result, and the brand lost billions.
#9: Blockbuster Total Access
The Rise and Fall of BlockBuster
The Blockbuster vs Netflix war is one for the ages, and towards the end, Blockbuster was just too slow playing catch up against the streaming giant. There was a time in 2006 however, that Blockbuster looked like they might overtake their rival, with the introduction of Total Access. This new scheme copied what Netflix was doing, but with a twist. If online customers returned their rentals to a physical store, they could receive another rental for free. Blockbuster initially saw great success with this, but it cost them around $2 a pop. Eventually, the cost caught up with them - and when that was compounded by legal issues from Netflix, and a reluctance from store franchises to embrace the Total Access project, the initiative ultimately ended up being a big part of why Blockbuster toppled.
#8: Segway
Launched in 2001, the Segway blew people’s minds with its futuristic design, which gave high-flying city goers a new way to traverse the urban jungle. But no matter how many celebrities and world leaders were seen riding one, the Segway just didn’t take off, selling only 140,000 units in its lifetime. There were many reasons for this. It was too expensive for the mass market, it lacked infrastructure and, arguably most importantly, it was dangerous. News stories everywhere told of how people were injuring themselves in Segway-related accidents - including company owner James Heselden, who died when he rode his Segway off a cliff in 2010.
#7: Friendster
Ah yes, another social media casualty, thanks largely in part to, yes, you guessed it, the popularity of Facebook. But Friendster actually found success a year before Facebook even launched, hitting the ground running in 2003 and earning itself millions of subscribers in its first year. Its downfall was partially due to the rise of Facebook, but the company also failed to scale up quick enough to meet subscriber spikes, which in turn resulted in slow site performance. Friendster also failed to keep up with trends, and what competitors like MySpace and Facebook were doing - and it saw a gradual decline, before finally closing up shop in 2015. Regardless, Friendster was still one of the very first big, mainstream social media sites.
#6: Microsoft Kin
Top 10 Biggest Microsoft Fails
Marketing experts will probably tell you a thousand reasons why Microsoft's range of Kin smartphones failed in 2010. In reality though, it’s very, very simple. The Kin ONE and TWO were aimed at the youth market, but they didn’t support apps. I mean, what is that about? If you wanted to check in and update your social media streams on your Kin, you had to go through a browser. This is in the era of the app happy iPhone. Oh, and by the way, it was really expensive to buy as well. Microsoft’s Kin range was discontinued about a year later.
#5: Windows Vista
Sorry Microsoft, last one we promise, we just thought we’d roll right on into Windows Vista and get it out the way. Vista launched in 2007 and was a replacement for the well thought-of Windows XP. People were excited, but that didn’t last long. From the moment it launched, people everywhere were pulling out their hair due to incompatibility issues with their current computers - despite promises from Windows that that wouldn’t happen. Users were forced to upgrade due to increased hardware requirements, and the general speed and performance of Vista was, well, not good. Loads of Windows users remained on the XP system and refused to switch, waiting for things to get better. Thankfully they did, when Windows 7 launched in 2009.
#4: Nintendo Wii U
5 Nerdy Gifts For Nintendo Lovers
The Wii U is a great, innovative console with an awesome games library, and it’s bookended by the super successful Nintendo Wii and Nintendo Switch. So what gives? Well, Nintendo’s marketing of the Wii U when it was launched in 2012 was just confusing. It carried a similar name to the Wii, but it wasn’t merely an accessory for the Wii, it was a separate console. And the controller was also a screen, so you could play it handheld, but you could also connect it to a TV. It was kind of like an early iteration of the Switch, but it didn’t seem like the gaming world was ready for it. The high price tag didn’t help its cause either.
#3: Apple Maps
Top 10 Apple Fails
The relationship between Apple and Google was a little tumultuous around 2009 due to Google not allowing certain features of its Google Maps app on iOS. Apple’s own version of Maps was therefore inevitable, and when Apple finally brought it to market in 2012 it was, well, terrible. Apple Maps featured out of date information, misspelled place names and the inability to differentiate from locations that shared the same name. Things were so bad in fact that Apple CEO Tim Cook put out a public apology and two Apple employees were laid off. Apple Maps has improved a lot since its launch, but for many, its initial 2012 flop was enough to put them off for life.
#2: 3D TV
Top 10 Most Expensive Product FAILS
Samsung, LG, Sony - take your pick. There were tons of major tech brands that dipped their toe into the 3D TV market, and ultimately came out wondering where it all went wrong. The 3D TV hype peaked around 2012, just a few years after James Cameron unleashed Avatar on the world. People were enjoying 3D movies and live sports events from the comfort of their living rooms, thanks to the use of specific displays and glasses. But it didn’t take long for the fad to fizzle. Many got bored of it fast, or just couldn’t be bothered to fiddle with 3D glasses, especially with the rising popularity of ultra clear 4K TVs and curved displays, which enhanced the viewing experience with no extra effort. Maybe they’ll make a comeback?
#1: Google Glass
Top 10 Crimes and Police Cases Solved with Google Earth
Looking at the tech specs of the 2013 Google Glass device, it’s a wonder why it was such a failure. I mean, who wouldn’t want to see emails, videos, pictures, stats and figures floating mid-air around you, like you’re some sort of social media Terminator? For many of us, just like the Segway, Google Glass was the embodiment of cool future tech. Unfortunately, the Google Glass product itself just wasn’t quite there yet in terms of development upon launch. It had rubbish battery life, a high price tag, privacy and safety issues and, of course, it made you stand out like a sore thumb when using it. It simply felt too niche and underdeveloped, and as a result, Google Glass seemingly got forgotten about overnight.
