[lpkmckenna]

Some products performed poorly because they were too expensive, such as the iPod HiFi and the Cube, while others were flops because they were crap, such as the Pippin.

At the same time, the HiFi spawned a cottage industry of iPod-specific sound systems. Apple led the way forward, then got out of the way (probably for cost reasons).

[- - e r i k - -]

Indeed. If they had to put a technological marvel that were too pricey for most buyers and an average, but still successful media centre in a list of flops over 30 years of a company's history, I say that company is doing fairly well.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by lpkmckenna 

Some products performed poorly because they were too expensive, such as the iPod HiFi and the Cube, while others were flops because they were crap, such as the Pippin.

At the same time, the HiFi spawned a cottage industry of iPod-specific sound systems. Apple led the way forward, then got out of the way (probably for cost reasons).

? My recollection was that there were already several iPod-specific sound systems before the HiFi made its appearance. Apple just tried to cash in on it, but wasn't very successful.

[SSharon]

Originally Posted by Eug 

? My recollection was that there were already several iPod-specific sound systems before the HiFi made its appearance. Apple just tried to cash in on it, but wasn't very successful.

that is how I remember it as well.
lpkmckenna does make a good point in that some flops were because of cost and some were because of technology.

personally I think the hi-fi is still a flop regardless of the price because it had no features to speak of.

I'm also not a fan of Apple remote controls since I like having more (and customizable) buttons.

What about the (external) isight? It cost way more than other webcams but isn't called a flop even though its only flaw is price. I don't have a clue as to how many were sold, but anybody that thinks the hi-fi was a flop should probably consider the isight a flop as well.

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by Eug 

? My recollection was that there were already several iPod-specific sound systems before the HiFi made its appearance. Apple just tried to cash in on it, but wasn't very successful.

There were several crap iPod specific speakers before the HiFi made its appearance. Post the HiFi, third party vendors saw a market beyond the toy-speaker market for the iPod.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by SSharon 

personally I think the hi-fi is still a flop regardless of the price because it had no features to speak of.

Heh. The Bose SoundDock had *less* features (not even an external input, no battery power), cost more, and sounded worse. It still sold like crazy, relatively.

But that's 'cuz people will buy anything with a Bose logo on it, as long as it costs enough money.

[lpkmckenna]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

There were several crap iPod specific speakers before the HiFi made its appearance. Post the HiFi, third party vendors saw a market beyond the toy-speaker market for the iPod.

You took the words right outta my mouth.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

There were several crap iPod specific speakers before the HiFi made its appearance. Post the HiFi, third party vendors saw a market beyond the toy-speaker market for the iPod.

That is also incorrect.

Before the iPod HiFi, there were 3-digit $ priced units already available that were reasonable.

[Gregg]

My first Mac was a Macintosh TV. I say it was "mine" but it was for our whole family. It did what we needed in the room we placed it in. The first problem was that it could only be upgraded to 8MB of RAM, if you can believe that these days! I really liked the black case, keyboard and mouse. I have a Mini (or a mini) now, and bought a black keyboard and mouse to use with it.

Yes, I paid too much for the Mac TV, and even paid $500 to have it brought back to life once. When the monitor went poof! one day, that was the end of it. I got rid of it too hastily after that. Later, someone offered to buy it from me if I still had it. I think it was an idea ahead of its time. And maybe that time is not here yet...

[SirCastor]

Originally Posted by Gregg 

Yes, I paid too much for the Mac TV, and even paid $500 to have it brought back to life once. When the monitor went poof! one day, that was the end of it. I got rid of it too hastily after that. Later, someone offered to buy it from me if I still had it. I think it was an idea ahead of its time. And maybe that time is not here yet...

On the contrary, I think it is. Maybe not for the whole market Segment, but for our small one-bedroom, my 24" iMac is a great machine for Movies/TV. I'm nudging my wife to get us a TV Tuner for Christmas. It's an excellent Dual Purpose appliance for college Students.

[SSharon]

Originally Posted by SirCastor 

On the contrary, I think it is. Maybe not for the whole market Segment, but for our small one-bedroom, my 24" iMac is a great machine for Movies/TV. I'm nudging my wife to get us a TV Tuner for Christmas. It's an excellent Dual Purpose appliance for college Students.

Agreed. As an out of state student that didn't want to carry a TV on top of my 19" NEC monitor having a TV tuner was awesome. I ended up getting a second tuner and was able to do picture in picture, record 2 channels at once or display full screen channels on each of my monitors.

[- - e r i k - -]

Originally Posted by Eug 

That is also incorrect.

Before the iPod HiFi, there were 3-digit $ priced units already available that were reasonable.

Examples please?

[TailsToo]

Originally Posted by Kenneth 

I tried the QuickTake when I was in high school. It's not bad at all.

How about the PowerCD?

I was thinking of this one too...

[Eug]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

Examples please?

For example, there was the Altec Lansing inMotion iM7.



It wasn't hi end by any means, but it was reasonable. Some may think the iPod HiFi was better, but then again, it also cost significantly more. Too much IMO, at $100 (40%) more than the Altec Lansing's $250 price tag.

[- - e r i k - -]

Yeah, I remember that one and I wasn't impressed. The HiFi was the first one that could really replace a home stereo system. It has a very nice room filling sound.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

Yeah, I remember that one and I wasn't impressed. The HiFi was the first one that could really replace a home stereo system. It has a very nice room filling sound.

Meh. The iPod HiFi wasn't that great either, yet it cost $350.

Plus the iPod-on-top requirement was kinda strange, especially since the iPod wasn't particularly stable on it.

[- - e r i k - -]

I didn't say I bought one. I said I wanted one.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

Yeah, I remember that one and I wasn't impressed. The HiFi was the first one that could really replace a home stereo system. It has a very nice room filling sound.

I beg to differ.

The Altec Lansing iM7 had a lot more horsepower, and I actually liked it better than the iPod Hi-Fi, because it didn't do as much of the phase-****ing exciting that makes the iPod Hi-Fi painful to listen to at high volume.

The Altec's bass was a little too boomy for my taste, but given that it was designed for outdoor ghetto-blaster use as well, that made sense.

At any rate, it was a *lot* better at filling a room than the iPod Hi-Fi, and it absolutely *creamed* the Bose SoundDock, which also pre-dated the iPod Hi-Fi, IIRC.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

At any rate, it was a *lot* better at filling a room than the iPod Hi-Fi, and it absolutely *creamed* the Bose SoundDock, which also pre-dated the iPod Hi-Fi, IIRC.

Yes, the Bose SoundDock also pre-dated the iPod HiFi.

[Paco500]

I had quite a few Apple "flops" in my lifetime, and I liked most of them. I had the original QuickTake, the original Newton (plus 3 or 4 others), 7200, Performa 638, Performa 6300, Powerbook 5300, 3 iSight cameras and on an on.

The only Mac (or any Apple product) I have ever had serious problems with was my Wife's original white MacBook- total POS. Finally died for good a few weeks back.

[Agasthya]

Taligent = Copland?

[Big Mac]

No, Taligent and Kalida were two other future research technologies that never saw the light of day. I think Taligent may have been an OS research project done in conjunction with IBM.

[Spheric Harlot]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taligent

[tooki]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

Regarding the Pippin:
This sounds strange to me. I had 14.4k and even 9.6k modems and they were more than capable of chatting in real time. WTF?

I noticed the same thing. The article is clearly just another jab at Apple for readership. The line from the article about chatting obviously ignores that modem speed has nothing to do with the ability (or lack thereof) to do live chat. The author was literally comparing Pippin's email with modern instant messaging. WTF?

[tooki]

Originally Posted by Eug 

? My recollection was that there were already several iPod-specific sound systems before the HiFi made its appearance. Apple just tried to cash in on it, but wasn't very successful.

Correct. Apple came in years after Bose and Altec Lansing paved the way.