There have some great product launches in 2013, some awesome gadgets being introduced and a great year in terms of consumer spending. But for every great product launch, there have been some very serious and funny technological failures as well.
Companies no doubt spend millions of dollars into the research, development and marketing of a product, but what if everything falls flat on the surface?
Here we present some of the major technological failures of 2013, which made the companies bite the embarrassment pill.
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RIP Google Reader
Early in the year, Google decided to kill Google Reader, the most famous and popular RSS feed reader. The news was a major blow to serious online readers, who relied on Reader to manage their day to day blog reads. The internet was abuzz with various theories regarding it’s sudden death, and it’s fans mourned its demise. The most apparent technological failure of 2013 was the death of Google Reader.
Microsoft Surface RT
In the month of July, Microsoft wrote-off $900 million worth of unsold inventory of Microsoft Surface RT, the famed PC like tablet which Microsoft launched in order to compete against the likes of iPad and Galaxy Note. The problem was that, its users were confused as to what to do with it – it offered a keyboard cover, mouse support and came with an integrated stand which made it appear as a replacement to laptop. But it failed to achieve either the flexibility of a tablet or the usability of a laptop.
iOS 7 Upgrade
In the month of September, Apple released iOS 7, which was a successor to iOS 6 with more refined user interface and a clean subtle look. It worked great on the latest Apple devices but when users of old Apple phones tried to upgrade their OS, issues started to appear. The problems were especially observed by users of iPhone 4 and 4s, who reported slowing down, sudden crashing of their device, incapable Siri apps, issues with audio functionality and lot more.
Such was the uproar and buzz regarding the iOS 7 updates that currently, there are more than 1.5 million blogs and posts regarding the search: “How to roll back to iOS 6 from iOS 7” on Google. Yes, when Apple says that their software can run on any legacy handset, users shouldn’t believe that word by word!
Youtube Comments
Few months back, Google made it compulsory for every Youtube user to first login via Google+ account in order to comment on the videos. This was one of the major technological failures of 2013, as Youtube loyal users erupted in anger against this new rule.
Youtube comments have their own charm and care-free attitude associated with them, and this new rule meant that only serious and censored comments would be posted on these videos. Such was the intensity of its evil, that Youtube co-founder Jawed Karim made his first comment on Youtube in 8 years:
“Why the f*** do I need a Google+ account to comment on a video?”
This is a perfect example of those instances when the tech company fails to understand their user’s preferences.
Twitter #Music
I wonder how many geeks still remember it? In the month of April, Twitter launched Twitter #Music, a new app which used Twitter’s activity timeline, and based on the user’s preferences showcased the most relevant and matching artist’s and titles.
They launched an app for Apple users, but calamity stuck within a month, as this app was thrown out of top-100 apps in Apple apps store. Such was the lack of response that they never bothered to create an Android apps for the same, and if rumors are true, then this app may soon be silenced.
Which other failures do you think were quite significant in 2013?
