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The Worst Apple Products of All Time

An anonymous reader writes "While Apple is frequently referred to as a leader in consumer electronic product design, the history of the company is filled with examples of poor design and questionable product strategies. This list of Apple's worst ever products includes some interesting trivia, including Apple's overpriced eWorld Internet service, their painfully bad attempt at a 'value' computer (the Performa), the much-loathed 'hockey puck' mouse, and the Apple Pippin gaming platform. The article also includes the infamous Apple III, which overheated so badly that it prompted one of the strangest repair techniques ever: 'Users were advised to pick the computer up a few inches off the ground and then drop it, hopefully jostling the chips back into position.'"

6 of 469 comments (clear)

  1. Hardcore repair methods by kaaposc · · Score: 1, Funny

    Dropping the computer from a few inches reminds me of the Soviet repair methods that worked for most of technics - couple of punches on the side of TV made those coloured stripes go away :)

  2. Re:Major details wrong by bsDaemon · · Score: 4, Funny

    By "gone the way of the dinosaurs," they mean "turned into birds and are now all around us, constantly chirping."

  3. screens by Swampash · · Score: 3, Funny

    Built-in screens made sense at the start of the computing age but they have thankfully gone the way of the dinosaurs

    It's funny to read this on an iMac.

  4. Re:Not all the items listed were failures.. by mdwh2 · · Score: 2, Funny

    exclusive, high priced item, for collectors.. that the author has mistaken for a consumer level product

    But wait ... I thought that was all Apple products?

  5. Re:What, no iPad? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    This whole story invites trolling. By trolling I mean anyone who says anything that doesn't praise Apple/Mac.
    Think of someone who drops a bundle on a trendy product only to find out it's just a legal swindle.
    This causes a community of bonding. The AMC Gremlin and the Yugo are good examples.
    Their aficionados will spend all day pointing out the benefits of owning a disposable lighter on wheels.
    They will gloat over their purchases. They will continue to buy accessories and parts to keep them on the road.
    Theirs is a fragile state of mind where they can't just admit a faux passe and continue on with life.
    Scientology may be another example.AOL another. Democrats ,yet another.
    This is the sort of behavior that keeps bad products and ideas afloat, tainting mankinds progress.
    Maybe science will localize the brainfart and medicate it. We can only hope.

  6. Re:Hasn't been out long enough yet by Hognoxious · · Score: 2, Funny

    By that reckoning they should release the iRock. A slighly prettier looking stone with googly eyes

    Just one googly eye, surely? Two would be clutter.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."