The Computer Buzz

May 21st, 2009

Nome and Paul Van Middlesworth - owners - The Computer Factory
 

Top Ten High Tech Losers of the Decade

Top ten lists are interesting but worst ten lists like "worst dressed" and "worst actor" are even more fun and often more instructive. Last week Times Magazine printed an article by writer Doug McEntyre listing the top ten "high tech failures of the decade." A la David Letterman we start with number 10.

10. The Segway. Introduced to oohs and aahs a few years back but, at $3000 per copy it never made the mainstream. Have you seen one lately?

9. Iridium. This Motorola backed company went bankrupt in 1999 after spending 5 billion dollars to develop a mobile satellite based phone system.

8. Palm. In its heyday Palm stock sold for over $600 a share, Today it trades at around $11. Apple's iPhone and RIM's Blackberry own the market today.

7. Microsoft Zune. Launched in late 2006, Zune is Microsoft's attempt to compete with Apple in the lucrative music download business. Zune sales are dropping, iPod's are climbing.

6. Sirius / XM satellite radio. The subscriber base peaked well below the break-even point two years ago and has been in steep decline since. Neither company ever made a dime.

5. You Tube. Wildly popular but with controversial content and low quality graphics, You-Tube has never attracted enough advertising revenue to cover even half its expenses.

4. Vonage. A pioneer in VoIP (voice over internet protocol) Vonage has been supplanted by Skype and cable companies like Comcast. With IPO stock priced at $17 in 2006. Vonage now trades at $1.00.

3. HD-DVD. The media standard pushed by Toshiba and NEC lost out in a close race to Sony's Blue-ray technology when retail giant Wal-Mart chose Blue Ray.

2. Gateway. Once a builder of quality PCs right here in America. Gateway started to unravel in 2000. Founder Ted Waite should have finished college. A series of bad decisions brought once proud Gateway to a shotgun wedding with E-Machine. Soon afterward, in our business, Gateway PCs became known as "Gate-crashers." In 2007 ACER bought Gateway's carcass for $710 million.

1. Microsoft Vista. The operating system for people who don't know any better took first place with ease. The full effects of Vista on Microsft and the PC Industry as a whole are being masked by the recession. Suffice it to say that no software product in history did more to harm an entire global industry than MS Vista.

There you have it. So if you own a Gateway with Vista you are entitled to form an "L" with your thumb and forefinger and hold it tightly against your forehead any time you feel threatened.