Moments from IT History

Sometimes it happens, that an initially promising idea or product fails when launched. It may happen for both obvious and not so obvious reasons, but either way, companies should learn their lesson or they may never recover from the failure. 

This is Week 1 of SPEAIT2021 course and I would like to tell you about three IT-related products that failed.

3D TV

Following the film "Avatar", and its huge success, manufacturers have tried to introduce 3D into the communal lives or living rooms of private individuals. Announced as the new fashion this technologist 'did not have the expected success. In short, at the beginning of 2016 the two groups Samsung and Philips gave up manufacturing these televisions. This was followed by LG and Sony in January 2017.

At the high-tech trade fairs in Las Vegas and Berlin in 2009, the first 3D televisions caused a sensation, and although sales of such devices were initially flourishing, the decline came quickly. According to the GfK institute, 1.3 million 3D TVs were sold in France in 2014, and only 800,000 the following year. At issue: the lack of 3D content, whether on TV channels or in the DVD department. Another concern: 3D glasses are often too expensive, uncomfortable, tiring and incompatible with certain screens. They can be accepted at the cinema for the duration of a film but less so at home, where you often do several things at the same time and leave the television in the background.

Nowadays, the battle is fought on 4K TV or virtual reality (with headphones on).

Source : https://www.boursorama.com/boursoramag/actualites/televiseurs-3d-les-raisons-d-un-echec-41193e253d8bc34a5cbe05ef8a36f031

Google Glasses

Google Glass' dream quickly gave way to disillusionment as early users found that it offered less than it promised - and users became the target of shame from privacy-conscious outsiders. 

This product promised to be revolutionary, changing our habits as the iPhone and smartphones did in their time. Alas, connected glasses failed to find their audience and the project seems to be coming to an end in January 2015.

Google has been able to learn that this technology is not suitable (for the moment) for general public use. On the other hand, professional use is not devoid of interest.

A recent report by Forrester Research predicts that by 2025, nearly 14.4 million American workers will be wearing smart glasses, and it turns out that with Glass, Google initially developed something with a promising technology and in its first effort to introduce it, it failed to understand who could use it best and what it should do. Glass is not a trendy way to hang applications in front of your eyeballs, but a tool.

Source : -https://www.wired.com/story/google-glass-2-is-here/?mbid=social_twitter

              -https://www.contrepoints.org/2017/09/11/298453-lechec-google-glass-sest-transforme-succes

Google ARA

The Ara project aimed to produce modular, mobile, multifunctional smartphones composed of removable modules (blocks). Each module or block has a specific function (digital camera, screen, processor, etc.). The project was launched by Motorola in 2013.

The selling points of the box were that it would be an economical, ecological and customizable device.3 sizes were to be proposed (from 3 to 6 inches) and the modules would also exist in three different sizes. This smartphone project was cancelled on 2 September 2016 by Google.

This suspension of Project Ara is part of Google's efforts to unify its activities in computer hardware, ranging from Chromebook laptops to Nexus phones.

However, manufacturing it would have been a complex and costly process, says Bob O'Donnell, president of TECHnalysis Research, who is not surprised to see Google abandon the project. "It's a failed science experiment and they're moving on," he said.

Source : - https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projet_Ara

              - https://www.lesechos.fr/2016/09/google-arrete-le-projet-ara-211914