Not that I am a tech-nerd or an outright fanatic who is submerged into IT products but certainly take avid interest in reading about interesting technology developments to keep myself at pace with the world of gadgets/technologies (that matter).

Products that flopped in 2011

Here’s my take on some of the products/features that were introduced in 2011 to storm the world but miserably failed to even draw attention and (later on) get a mention beyond a point. I am sure ‘my’ list may appear incomplete but certainly a lot of the below mentioned names will instantly ring a bell in your mind and then you will ghastly wonder what happened to this damn tech!

#1: Chrome OS – In its attempt to challenge Microsoft’s monopoly in the PC market, Google launched a web-based, lightweight Chrome OS. Did it bring cheer for Google? Not really! A meager number of Chrome-based notebooks were sold, I believe. The reason is they aren’t very good and expensive too.

# 2: Facebook Mail – This was launched amid fanfare towards the end of 2010. But are you, like you use FB, using it? It didn’t change a thing – least of all it didn’t even come close email.

# 3: Motorola Xoom - It boomed and then doomed. The advertisements may have ripped Apple apart but Motorola Xoom was a disastrous attempt to displace Apple from its leadership position. It is selling at all? Well, barely.

# 4: HP TouchPad – Poor guy, it could only survive for six-seven weeks. And then one fateful day the IT giant (losing its charm by the day) decided to kill it, along with all the other WebOS-based hardware products.

#5: BlackBerry Playbook – If you are lucky, you might get a playbook in a “lucky draw” else, you may like to give it a pass. This, to me (who swears by BB Phone and its mail services) was the biggest flop of 2011. The company hyped its
PlayBook in the market where even Samsung could not make much impact despite Android’s massive success in the phone space. Dethroning Apple and challenging Kindle is tough.

# 6: Windows Phone 7 - For Microsoft, mobile seems to be a bugaboo. Even though MS tried to build a story around Win Phone 7, it didn’t do much to save the company’s downhill journey in the mobile market. It may have put a big bet on Nokia and must be hoping to change its fortune but we will have to see it to believe it.

I won’t stretch this list to make it 10 as I don’t think of other stuff that I came to know failed like the ones listed above. If you know, do add to make it a perfect (round) figure.