25 Overhyped Innovations That Turned Into Massive Letdowns
If you’ve ever considered investing in tech or new concepts, you may have realised it’s a risky gamble. While certain innovations get overly hyped, they can quickly flip into big flops instead. There’s always talk of the “next big thing”, but don’t fall for it, because not every one of these innovations that are often hyped up delivers on expectations when brought to market. Scroll below to check out a list of items people thought would change the world as we know it, but ended up being sorely disappointing fails instead.
#1
Image source: Stupid-ForYou, bigebige/reddit
3D tv. i remember those being sold somewhere when we had to buy a couch, and accidentally renting the 3d version of a movie, but it never took off.
#2
Image source: rasputin6543, Juicero
Juicero. Was going to be the keurig of fresh squeezed juice but the “pods” were proprietary bags with a full glass’ worth of specially diced fruit amd the machine would squeeze them.
The Dollop podcast has a great episode for all the details.
#3
Image source: KaityKat117, thishowthingswork
Microsoft held a literal funeral procession for the iPhone when they introduced the Windows Phone.
#4
Image source: Regnes, Kai Wenzel/unsplash
Google+ was supposed to topple Facebook.
#5
Image source: JournalofFailure, Biswarup Ganguly
The Tata Nano. The company set out to build the lowest price new car in the world, and it succeeded.
Unfortunately, newly middle class Indian families didn’t want the stigma of owning the world’s cheapest new car, so sales never came anywhere close to expectations.
#6
Image source: LouisiAnimaaL, Yuga Labs
NFT’s.
#7
Image source: AcornTopHat, Getty Images/unsplash
Hoverboards. Most users actually physically flopped and tanked onto their butts!
#8
Image source: MLein97, Jan Paweł Bochen/unsplash
For a brief moment in time Segways were the future.
#9
Image source: Dcipher01, anthonylavado/reddit
Those weird 4D movie with the smell? Does anyone even remember those? They felt like fever dreams.
#10
Image source: hglndr9, Leonardo Rizzi/flickr
Betamax. Superior in video quality but lacked hardware support, thus making it more expensive.
#11
Image source: momobeth, Getty Images/unsplash
About 25 years ago, they thought ostrich meat would be as popular as chicken.
#12
Image source: reyska, Katriece Ray/flickr
Bio-hacking. It was supposed to be this big thing and I read an article about a dude that had a bunch of sensors on him, some nifty glasses that displayed the data and he used all this data to adjust his daily things, like eating and drinking. He claimed that “in two years, everyone will be bio-hackers”. That was four years ago and the closest we’ve got are activity monitor watches that people use and ignore. Dumbest next big thing ever.
#13
Image source: Somewhereoverrainbow, Paramount Pictures
Fetch.
#14
Image source: MagicBez, jaeming/flickr
I will defend it until my dying breath but Minidisks were supposed to revolutionise music. CD quality, basically indestructible, rewritable, massive storage. I _loved_ my MD player but MP3 players just killed them dead.
#15
Image source: doowgad1, Universal Pictures
Universal Picture’s ‘Dark Universe.’
The Mummy with Tom Cruise was supposed to start a whole line of movies, but when that one died it took the rest with it.
#16
Quibi
It’s like they forgot that we already all had YouTube….
#17
Image source: 2-3inches, UK Black Tech/unsplash
Meta verse.
#18
Image source: BokiGilga, Kārlis Dambrāns/flickr
Curved TVs.
#19
Image source: The4StringSamurai, sejohnson0408/reddit
Are Dippin Dots still the ice cream of the future?
#20
Image source: CircusOfBlood, Kecko/flickr
Submarine Tourism.
#21
Image source: SMANDDC06, Julien G./flickr
Zune, I remember everyone who had one telling me it was gonna replace iPod.
#22
Image source: genericmovievillain, kanonn/flickr
Pepsi Blue. I tried it once and really liked it, but no one bought it so it vanished overnight.
#23
Image source: thecodingEnthusiast, Julio Lopez/unsplash
More recently: Threads. Twitter was supposed to be dead by now.
#24
Image source: Biggdaddyrich, Richard H. Geoghegan
Esperanto.
#25
Image source: sabangnim, Dominique Godbout/flickr
Beanie babies.
Little bean bag plush stuffed animals from the 90’s. People thought they were going to become incredibly valuable collectors items like the original Star Wars toys. Some people went nuts and spent all their money on the things. I remember hearing about a divorcing couple fighting viciously over the collection they’d amassed.
Got wisdom to pour?