APPLE’S GREATEST HITS & MISSES
APPLE MAY SEEM
to be a perennial winner, but it wasn’t always so. The company behind the iPhone and iMac also made iTunes Ping and the infamous “hockey puck” mouse. Yes, even Apple has made products no one wanted or worked poorly. Of course, there are also many highly popular Apple products that are no longer with us today; even being a successful product loved by many may not be enough to save you from being phased out by Apple. From the iBook to iWeb, and the iPod to the eMac, good sales figures and loyal fan bases couldn’t keep these products around forever. Despite its successes, even Apple isn’t immune to market pressures, failed launches, and low demand. So let us take you on a trip down memory lane to revisit some of the interesting products, launches, and ideas that have been shown the door over the course of the company’s storied history.
1989 Macintosh Portable
Launched in 1989, the Macintosh Portable was Apple’s first stab at the nascent laptop market, and, unfortunately, it showed.
It had some pretty nifty features. With an impressive active matrix LCD display that was crisp and quick, and a clever trackball input device that could be switched to either side of the keyboard, it showed some touches of classic Apple flair.
Still, at 16 pounds it rather strained the definition of “portable.” There was also the issue of cost. At $7,300 for a model equipped with a hard drive (about $14,626 today), its princely price tag meant it
