Top 20 Products That Don't Exist Anymore

With the press of a button, pagers revolutionized telecommunication back in the 1950s. They were convenient, they were practical, and best of all, they were the hip new thing. But, over the years, a ton of worthy competition entered the fray. By the turn of the 21st century, smartphones could do almost everything a pager could, but better. They hung on for a few more years due to their increased reliability, but eventually, pagers just couldn’t keep up with the feature-rich cellphones. By 2021, most paging service providers had shuttered for good, leaving this communicator an obsolete relic of the past.

It’s hard to go wrong with a good, old-fashioned granola bar. But, the real kicker is that Kudos bars were all a part of a sugary, well-balanced breakfast. While they definitely had more flavor than nutrition, that didn’t stop them from becoming a staple breakfast treat in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Still, over time, their name-recognition started to dwindle. Then, in 2017, a comment on the company’s Facebook page confirmed that Kudos bars were officially discontinued. Given the unceremonious nature of its goodbye, we aren’t crossing our fingers for a relaunch any time soon. But, you’ve gotta give it kudos for one thing - that theme song never gets old.

Since their mascot is an actual peanut, it’s safe to say Planters pretty much corners the market on all things nuts. As if to prove it, they entered the ‘90s by introducing a whole new way to enjoy their product. Enter: P.B. Crisps, the so-called “peanut butter with a crunch.” The cream-filled cookies were a massive hit. At least, for the people who tried them. The crisps disappeared after just three years on shelves, with no official explanation as to why. That hasn’t stopped people from talking about them, though. To this day, fans are still clamoring for a return of P.B. Crisps. There’s even a website for it and everything.

This kind of tech is an increasingly dying breed. At the very least, the fax machine can be proud of its near-century-long reign as the de-facto office communicator. But, there’s a lot of alternatives to compete with these days. Primarily email and the Internet, both of which are much less cumbersome than a modern-day telecopier. Looking at all that, it’s clear that the fall of the fax machine is more a matter of when, not if. Sure, it still has its uses in certain fields. But, compared to what else is on the market, fax machines feel like they’re on their last print.

Even by today’s standards, having the latest and greatest fashion trends sent right to your door is a pretty compelling offer. In the ‘90s, it was practically a must-have. Delia’s catalog presented itself as more of a magazine than of a store, and that novel approach gave it a chokehold on the decade’s fashion sense. But, once the novelty of catalog orders wore off, the brand was left without anything to stand on. Later, when online shopping officially took over, Delia's once-famous catalog quietly went out of print. The company’s product is still around today, just without the paper version, or the brand recognition.

For as cool as a “personal digital assistant” sounds, there’s just no need for one anymore. Everything that made it unique in the ‘80s is now commonplace in basically any smart device on the market. Internet access, messaging, reminders - smartphones and computers do all of that, and so much more. The steady decline of PDA sales reflects as much. Just ask Apple; their entire company almost went under after banking hard on the Apple Newton. It also served as a cautionary tale for their competitors, most of whom have since abandoned their PDA lines. Fortunately, the tech went to good use, and several of those companies began manufacturing cell phones instead.

This wasn’t just a web browser. This was the web browser. Netscape Navigator’s intuitive user-interface helped popularize Internet use, and the company was rewarded for that with incredible word-of-mouth. But, every industry needs some healthy competition, and soon enough, Microsoft entered the ring with Internet Explorer. Accompanied by PC bundles and an unprecedented marketing blitz, the new browser utterly destroyed Netscape’s rule. In fact, Microsoft’s launch was so aggressive, the U.S. court of law officially called it an illegal monopoly. But, by then, the damage was already done. Netscape Navigator never earned back its audience, and officially went off the grid in 2008.

On paper, this infamous drink doesn’t sound too bad. It was non-carbonated, relatively healthy, and even had several different fruit flavors. However, the real issue had nothing to do with the drink’s taste. It was that Orbitz wasn’t fully liquid. See, the entire pitch is that “orbitz” are small, gelatinous orbs that dissolve in your mouth. As you can imagine, people didn’t like having to eat their drink. Orbitz were reviewed poorly, and sold even worse. To put it into perspective, they only lasted a single, measly year into production before going AWOL. These days, the only place to find an Orbitz is from a collector.

In 1996, there were an estimated five billion of these flimsy discs in use. And that’s just counting the standard version. And yet, by 2007, floppy disks were already collecting dust. The culprit behind their sharp decline in sales is primarily USB drives. Oh, and memory cards. Then, cloud storage. Floppy disks simply weren’t made to keep up with the rapid influx in memory technology. If anything, they took up more space than they saved. Their legacy isn’t all doom and gloom, though. In order to make the transition easier on consumers, several computing companies use the floppy-disk image as their save icon. So, really, it’s like they’re still with us.

The third generation of smartphones had a lot of winners. The iPhone 5, the Galaxy S9, and the Google Pixel 2, just to name a few. But, as with any growing industry, there will always be a day where one era powers off so another can flick on. It’s not like 3G devices got canceled or anything; it’s just that their framework needed to be upgraded to match the newest standards. After all, why bother keeping 3G around when 4G is technologically superior? Not to mention 5G. As a result of the industry’s innovations, most third-generation phones will lose support by the end of 2024. And that’s if they haven’t already.

It’s not really fair to say that answering machines don’t exist anymore. Rather, they just don’t sell as well as they used to. Or, really, at all. It’s tragic because their cousin, the voicemail, is still a very prevalent part of cellular communication. But, the silver bullet of answering machines is that they’re specifically tied to a person’s home landline. Since those are quickly becoming extinct, the answering machine is going down with them. Technically, you can still call any of them up and get the same voicemail-like message. But, unless there’s a major change in the market, answering machines are not long for the tech world.

This “Kodak moment” ended in a camera flash. Even though they were the ones to develop the first self-contained digital camera, the company’s higher-ups were extremely hesitant to shift their brand away from film rolls. That proved to be a fatal error, and by the time Kodak started playing catchup, the digital market had already left them in the dust. Following a decade of rocky finances, the company officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2012. Thankfully, there’s a happy ending for Kodak. The brand emerged from their financial woes with a new focus on printing, supplying film, and, later, pharmaceuticals. But, the same can’t be said for their camera production.

Way back when, Sony built a product based on the idea of cassettes-on-the-go, and the industry hasn’t been the same since. The Walkman proved to be so absurdly popular, it became ubiquitous with the very concept of portable music, including Sony’s own “Discman” line. It’s to the point that the word “revolutionary” doesn’t feel like it does the Walkman justice. While it was inevitably overtaken by the rise of smartphones, this portable player still lives on as an iconic piece of 20th century pop culture. Sure, it ended production in 2010, but with over 200 million units made, odds are the Walkman’s legacy won’t be forgotten any time soon.

Surprisingly enough, the Coca-Cola Company’s first ever diet drink wasn’t actually Diet Coke. It was Tab, a sugarless soda marketed to those who wanted to quote-unquote “keep tabs on their weight.” As one of the first beverages to tap into the “diet” market, Tab was an instant success. But, it came under friendly fire when the Coca-Cola Company introduced Diet Coke in 1982. Just like that, Tab lost its only claim to fame. However, its passionate audience was enough to keep it around for almost another forty years. But, despite their efforts, the drink shipped its last case in 2020. Coke hasn’t kept “tabs” on it since.

If you’re looking on the side of busy roads, you're more likely to find a Wi-Fi hotspot than a phone booth. Quite frankly, the change has been a long time coming. Ever since smartphones became the communication standard, payphones have been left in a dire place. As you can imagine, it’s even worse for phone booths. Almost every single one in the United States has been torn up or converted, and that’s getting off lucky compared to some other countries. In Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and more, you couldn’t find a working phone booth even if you wanted to. At this rate, it’ll only be a few years before phone booths stop ringing worldwide.

General Motors revved up a lot of cars in the 20th century. So much so, that they could afford to sell their Pontiac brand as less of a vehicle, and more of a lifestyle. In the late ‘50s specifically, this type of car was a status symbol. But, as the years went on, it became a symbol that people cared less and less about. Pontiac had restructured before to great success, and they might’ve been able to do it again if not for the economic crash of 2008. Up against intense financial pressure, GM gave Pontiac one last lap before retiring it for good in 2010.

Before Android and iOS dominated the cell phone space, there was a third contender in the ring. Well, actually, there was four, but Sony’s Ericsson phones failed to put up much of a fight (xref). BlackBerry, on the other hand, was a worthwhile rival during the 2000s. Their name recognition was second to none, and they had the slick product to back it up. At least, at first. Unfortunately, they couldn’t evolve fast enough to match the ever-changing landscape. As Android and IOS flourished in the 2010s, Blackberry lost almost three-quarters of its sales numbers. Their last product came out in 2018, and no one’s heard anything from them since.

They didn’t call it “appointment television” for nothing. For decades, if you wanted to watch something on TV, you had to be in the right place, at the right time, on the right channel. Then, out of nowhere, came the VCR. Suddenly, all it took was a handy VHS tape, and you could record anything on TV for future viewing. It completely changed the game, and immediately, everyone wanted in on the profit. In came DVD’s, which were easier, cheaper, and more reliable than VHS tapes. When that sank, the need for videocassette players went with it. The very last VCR manufacturer ceased production in 2016.

The music business is a tough place to stay relevant in. Case in point, Microsoft’s epic failure in the Zune. But, for everyone one of those, there was the iPod - a music player that just did everything right. And yet, even that couldn’t stay afloat forever. The story is the same all around: they all failed to stay relevant. Just as soon as MP3 players reached their stride, smartphones had developed enough to do the exact same thing. The iPhone eclipsing the iPod is a good metaphor for what happened to just about every MP3 player on the market. Nobody needed them anymore, and that’s that.

From Netscape Navigator’s ashes, Microsoft grew a web browser with a legacy that speaks for itself. At its peak, Internet Explorer had an absolutely gargantuan 95% market share. If that doesn’t speak to its status, nothing will. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the browser war didn’t end there. Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari all entered the fray in the coming years, each taking a noticeable chunk out of Internet Explorer’s user base. Eventually, the once-mighty browser was forced to cut its losses and relaunch as the new-and-improved Microsoft Edge. Given how quickly it lost support among both users and developers, it’s clear that Internet Explorer 12 isn’t coming any time soon.