Time Magazine seems to cause controversy every once in a while, and its list of "the 10 biggest tech failures of the last decade" is likely to ruffle the feathers of some of the industry's biggest names - including the likes of Microsoft, Google and Palm.
In compiling its last, Time Magazine states that included products had to meet certain criteria. Products needed to be aimed at the global market and had to be technologically equal to or superior to its competition. On top of that, products must have had the opportunity to make billions of dollars in revenue, but must have clearly failed to live up to expectations.
Catastrophic failures, in other words. So, who are the unfortunate names to make the list? Here it is in its entirety:
- Microsoft Vista
- Gateway
- HD DVD
- Vonage
- YouTube
- Sirius XM
- Microsoft Zune
- Palm
- Iridium
- Segway
Microsoft, the only company to appear twice, has been flagged for its Zune and Windows Vista products - the latter of which has been accused by Time of failing to be "viewed as clearly better than its predecessors". Backing up its accusation with recent statistics, the magazine adds that Vista's global share of PC operating systems sat last month at just 24 per cent - a long way from the 62 per cent occupied by its ageing predecessor, Windows XP.
Elsewhere, a somewhat surprise inclusion is the now Google-owned YouTube. The wildly-popular video sharing service has been pulled up due to its failure to come up with a money-making business model. According to sales figures from various sources, YouTube is thought to be making $240 million this year but would need to triple that amount to break-even and cover the mammoth costs of bandwidth and storage. Such is the problem, that Google may never get a return on its $1.65 billion investment, says Time.
It's an interesting list, and you can take a closer look at Time.com. We'd be interested in hearing your thoughts - do you agree with the list, or can you think of any glaring omissions? Voice your opinion in the HEXUS.community forums.
