When you look at the last 6 years or so, Apple have had a remarkably low rate of failed products. iPods, iPhones &amp; iPads have all been unbelievable successes. Even the humble Mac has done pretty damn well for itself. However, they're not always such an invincible company. In that amazing ascendancy period between 2004-2010, where Apple became the dominant company they are today, sometimes they just plain got it wrong. Here's a couple of misses you might not have heard about.<!--more-->
<h1>iPod by HP (2004)</h1>
<img style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.mactalk.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/ipod-by-hp.png" border="0" alt="ipod by hp.png" width="523" height="304" />

With Apple's strict rules around it's branding &amp; image, it's hard to see how this happened. Yet, it did!

The problem in 2004 was that everyone wanted an iPod, but there were hardly any Apple Stores to go to. Combined with that, Apple had not yet struck any deals with big electronic retailers to carry their products. So Apple struck a bit of a deal with the devil on this one - they loaned the iPod name to HP in order to take advantage of HP's huge retail connections. In return, HP would be able to sell iPods with a HP logo on the back, and it would also install iTunes by default on all of their laptops.

So what happened? Well, nothing really happened. The HP iPod only accounted for around 7% of total iPod sales. It also meant confusion for that small minority, because the warranty contract was different - you had to send a broken HP iPod back to HP, not Apple.

Eventually the project fizzled out, but not before we also saw <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/02/hp-to-get-the-ipod-mini-and-the-ipod-shuffle/">HP iPod Minis, Shuffles</a> &amp; even the <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2005/04/12/hp-gets-the-ipod-photo/">iPod Photo</a>.
<h1>Motorola ROKR E1 (2005)</h1>
<img style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.mactalk.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/rokre1.png" border="0" alt="ROKR E1 by Motorola" width="490" height="500" />

Looking back at it, this was an unbelievably strange product. Announced at an event in 2005, it was described as a collaboration between Apple &amp; Motorola to bring iTunes to a mobile phone for the first time. It had an artifically-imposed 100 song limit, and could only be synced by USB 1.1. It was then promptly overshadowed by the introduction of the wildly successful iPod nano at the same event, a move which <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/26/zander-sez-screw-the-nano/">mildly irritated the then-CEO of Motorola, Ed Zander</a>.

This was a bit of a unique misstep for Apple in a number of ways. Firstly, it was the introduction of an iPod-like experience on a device with no clickwheel. If you've ever tried to navigate a list of 100 items with a fiddly joystick, you know how terrible it is. Secondly, it was the first time they relied on another hardware manufacturer to deliver their software experience for them.

Do you think they learned from this? I'd like to think so. In many ways, I think that if Apple hadn't been burned by these early experiences with Motorola, we may not have seen the iPhone as it exists today.

Incidentally, this is not the first time that Apple have dabbled with allowing 3rd-party players to work with iTunes either. Here's an <a href="http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2172">old support article</a> detailing several non-Apple MP3 players that are 100% genuinely compatible with iTunes including Creative, Nike, Rio &amp; Nakamichi (nope, I can't remember them either).
<h1>iPod Accessories - Leather Case &amp; iPod Hifi (2006)</h1>
Actually, both of these products were introduced at the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6FKKpMH5eA">same event, back in 2006</a>. The tagline for the event was: "<em>Come see some fun new products from Apple</em>", which of course sent every gadget blog into an <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-6042493-7.html">awesome speculation frenzy</a>. I loved those days; every single event would be so unrealistically blown out of proportion that every gadget headline story the next day would be something like, "Apple fails to deliver TV, tablet, phone &amp; headless iMac AGAIN". It was great.

First up is the <a href="http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/reviews/entry/apple-computer-leather-cases-for-ipod-and-ipod-nano/">Leather Case for iPod by Apple</a>, introduced in 2006.

<img style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.mactalk.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/ipodleathercase.png" border="0" alt="iPod Leather Case by Apple-2.png" width="238" height="405" />

You might be thinking, well OK, what's so ridiculous about that? Well, this case had two distinct traits which characterised it as very weird indeed. First, it was $99 USD - an amazingly expensive case at a time when knockoff iPod cases were flooding the markets. Two, it was a solid sleeve of italian leather which although very nice, gave you no way to access either the controls, or even glance at the screen!

<img style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.mactalk.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/ipodhifi.png" border="0" alt="iPod Hifi" width="590" height="335" />

I might be a bit biased on this one, but I always thought the iPod Hifi put out a great sound for their size. They also weighed a ton; a pretty decent indicator that the internal speakers were of some quality.

Regardless, this dock was a $349 USD behemoth in a land of more affordable docks. It had some serious flaws, like lack of compatibility with older models, lack of AM/FM radio, and a strangely placed dock connector that put the iPod on top of the speakers, right in prime position to be snapped off. And really, at the time, everyone was flat-broke from buying the iPod in the first place - who had a spare $500+ AUD for a dock?
<h1>iTunes LPs (2009)</h1>
<img style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.mactalk.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/iTunesLP.png" border="0" alt="iTunesLP.png" width="590" height="280" />

If you're like me, you're probably thinking, "Oh yeah! I remember that from last year's iTunes event! Whatever happened to that?!"

Good bloody question.

Since release, Apple have not mentioned these once at any event they've held. My guess would be because sales of them are dismal. Scrolling down the list of available iTunes LPs, I can still see the ones that were introduced at launch. That can't be a good sign.

My pet theory is that the whole iTunes LP format was part of a compromise, struck with the music studios, in order to give them a way to upsell more content on iTunes. In return, Apple got the whole iTunes catalogue to go DRM-free.

A good deal? I think it was worth it for the trade-off, but still, a product is a product, so I'm counting iTunes LPs as a dud. They're not dead yet, but I think they're hanging on by a thread.

Do you have other products you'd like to share in the comments? Let us know!

I would definitely add the iPod Shuffle's 2009 incarnation (third generation) to the list. It was overpriced, had no buttons, and didn't allow for any third-party headphones or earbuds.

Apple itself has recognised its error by totally redesigning it this year.

Not real duds but:

iPod photo. Not because it's a bad product, but because it only lasted a few months, before all "classic" iPods had colour screens and did photos as well.

iTunes 5.x: only lasted a month or so, between iTunes 4.9 and iTunes 6.0. Surely that didn't need a full number update. Postpone an update, or call it iTunes 4.9.1 or 4.10.

As for the iPod hifi, it doesn't even charge current iPhones. Remember back when Apple changed iPod/phone charging so some old devices (e.g. Logitech mm50) couldn't charge newer devices? Even the iPod hifi was affected. (rolleyes).

I'd put those old media cables here as well—now requiring special Apple decrypting chips.

How about the iPhone Bluetooth Headset?



Personally I liked it but the battery didn't hold a charge before too long and Apple didn't seem to try to sell it too hard before they discontinued it. I don't think it was even released in Australia.

Selling the ability to make ringtones out of already purchased tracks.

Mercy killed in version 10.

I had the Creative Nomad II 64MB MP3 player before ANY of you had ipods... because it was released before the first ipod was. It was simply awesome.

Creative NOMAD - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I had no idea until now however that it was every compatible with itunes. The software it came with was complete crap. But boy did I have lots of fun with it... it was awesome.

Originally Posted by alextrob

How about the iPhone Bluetooth Headset?



Personally I liked it but the battery didn't hold a charge before too long and Apple didn't seem to try to sell it too hard before they discontinued it. I don't think it was even released in Australia.

I actually wished they kept this product. I don't particularly like most of the other headsets that are available. And the ones that I do like I can't afford.

The Apple iPod from HP?

Glad I ordered my first iPod (2004) online. Fark. Imagine "Apple MacBook Pro by Dell" with a Dell logo on the back. *Puke*

Originally Posted by Lutze

The fat iPod nano was a complete dud, in sales at least. The iPod mini was blown out by the nano pretty quick too.

The MacBook Air is hit and miss as well.

MacBook Air ditched the Cd drive and used SSD, something I think will be across the Mac range soon.

iTunes already ditched the cd icon recently.

Originally Posted by Lutze

The fat iPod nano was a complete dud, in sales at least. The iPod mini was blown out by the nano pretty quick too.

The MacBook Air is hit and miss as well.

One thing I liked about the fat nano was that it fitted into my wallet like a credit card.

When the ROKR came out I wanted one but not the phone itself, just the iTunes feature.

When the iPhone came out I wanted the whole thing.

Significant difference

Originally Posted by iCantwait

I could get the first gen nano into my wallet. Now that section is for other things.....

I imagine your iPhone replaced your nano? (I keep my nano for jogging)