40 Products That Were Thought To Be Life-Changing, But Were Utter Flops Instead
By
maks in
Interesting
On 7th January 2024
Do you recall the early 2000s when Segways were all the rage? You'd see mall security effortlessly gliding on these two-wheeled gadgets, and they were the go-to choice for fun tours in bustling tourist spots. But, just like that, they vanished from the scene. Today, electric scooters have taken over, becoming the go-to choice for those looking to move around without walking.
Every year, something new pops up claiming to be the "next big thing." However, not all of these innovations stand the test of time or meet the lofty expectations set for them. Recently, Redditors have been reminiscing about these once-hyped "next big things" that ended up being major flops. Below, we've compiled a list of products and companies that, looking back, might have been overhyped.
1.
Not entirely relevant, but I liked the trend where everybody wanted the smallest cell phone possible. For 20 years cell phones got smaller and smaller. Often being the main selling point of the phone.Then all of sudden you could watch videos on your phone, and almost overnight the trend reversed to “larger is better”.
4.
The “[pandemic] baby boom” People thought that during lockdowns we’d see a bunch of pregnancies because couples would essentially have nothing else to do. Instead we saw people isolate more even after the lockdowns ended and fewer people are dating at all now let alone having kids. When inflation started to increase you also saw more people choose to delay having kids due to increased costs and some residual effects of shortages (like the baby formula shortage we had in the US last year)
5.
Segways were supposed to be the car killer.
7.
Motion controls in video games. They have not disappeared completely but they are nowhere as popular as they were back in the late 2000s.
8.
Those chips that were “fat free”, except they made you have violent diarrhea and a**l leakage because of the Olestra used in them.
9.
Blockchain. I couldn’t stop hearing about it in grad school. I got pushed into studying data analytics and had to do a course on it. In the end I wrote my paper on the usefulness of it and basically said “it’s not without its uses, but there doesn’t seem to be a pressing need for it.” I read later a much better assessment of “a solution looking for a problem” and that basically nailed it.
10.
I’m still very distraught we never got the modular phone revolution I was promised back in the early 2010s. Now it’s wildly exciting to have a replaceable battery. My heart weeps
11.
Internet of Things.I'm an engineer, and while I was in college people in my field have been banging that drum.Turns out we just need a good enough refrigerator, not an internet connected one.
12.
When the Windows Phone was unveiled, Microsoft held a genuine funeral procession for the iPhone.
14.
Amazon’s shopping buttons. They pushed really hard for those and I never saw the point.
16.
Drone delivery of packages
18.
The DCEU. I mean, they started a franchise finally showing Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman together on the big screen, and yet they somehow managed to botch it so spectacularly, so early on.
19.
Kinect was a full body motion control thing for the Xbox 360. It was supposed to change the gaming industry. It had maybe a dozen games made for it, most of which barely worked. And it silently went away after about 2 or 3 years.
21.
The litany of film adaptations of young adult novels that happened in the wake of Hunger Games' success. Aside from Divergent, which eventually ran out of gas, and Maze Runner all of them flopped and didn't get sequels.
23.
Wii U was unfortunate. The Switch is just a very refined Wii U.
24.
One of the funniest I remember was solar roads. Solar panels that you drive on. Without damaging them, somehow. With your operating room tires.
26.
Clear Pepsi. If I remember correctly they even used a Van Halen song for the commercials
28.
How is that tesla cybertruck, it was announced years ago but not available yet, or is it?
29.
Disney's Atlantis. They had a whole park planned around it. Unfortunately they released it in a year saturated by insanely good movies.
30.
How has NOBODY posted about the Firephone??? Whole teams of people were fired after that debacle.
31.
HD DVDStill remember half the movies being blue and the others red.
32.
New Coke, 20 or 30 years ago, I think. Belly flopped.
34.
Fusion power is always 10 years away
35.
The future when you were young😂
36.
Emu meat!For a while there in the late 80s & early 90s it was a thing that doctors & lawyers who wanted the ranch lifestyle would invest in. There was enough awareness of it that emus getting killed by the monster was even played for a gag in *8 Legged Freaks* & one of the *Tremors* movies.
37.
Gonna tentatively suggest this, Apple's Vision Pro headset thing. A VR headset with a separate battery that you have to carry, creepy eye vision screen on the front, and all for only $3500 . How could it fail?Also, now that I think of it. Apple's Ping social networking thing.
38.
Dippin Dots has been the ice cream of the future for a while now. You'd think that future would have come to pass by now.
