10 Super Precocious Mac Products Even-for Mac Addicts

As strong a company as Apple has been, and as legendary a legacy as Steve Jobs has left behind, the mighty Mac did manage to drop a few bad apples here and there. Even the best of us fail on occasion so these mishaps are just noteworthy footnotes in history now, but we thought we’d list these 10 Apple miscues for the sake of nostalgia:

1. iPod U2 Special Edition – What were there, like, three people anxiously awaiting this thing’s arrival? We don’t know what the question might have been that made Apple think this product would fill a void, but since this failure of an iPod was the answer, then it couldn’t have been too important.
2. eMate 300 – Built to be an entry-level laptop model for the student, it ran on Apple’s Newton operating system, which was not one of Apple’s greatest contributions to the personal computer. It didn’t help that the ‘futuristic’ design gave it a Fisher-Price look.
3. Apple III – A desktop aimed at the business market, and with a 1980 price tag north of four grand, this thing was beyond precocious. Not to mention it had hardware issues to boot. Needless to say, not a shining moment in Apple lore.
4. Mac TV – You almost have to wonder if this thing came with the Steve Jobs Channel pre-installed. In fairness, the concept was pretty forward-looking, but the implementation and practicality fell somewhat short.
5. Apple Lisa – Absolutely no relation to Siri, this was actually quite an innovative machine at the time. In true precocious form, however, Apple marketed the unit with a bogus acronym to fit Steve Jobs’ daughter’s name – at a price of $10,000 – in 1983!
6. Apple Bandai Pippin – A collaborative, and failed, attempt to enter the game console arena. The Pippin was marketed as part computer, probably to justify the $600.00 sticker, but it was mainly just a video game console.
7. Mac Portable – This contraption couldn’t decide what it wanted to be – a desktop or a laptop. As such, it didn’t fill either bill, but it did succeed in accomplishing what Mac products never fail to do: come at a ridiculously high price.
8. 20^th Anniversary Macintosh- “We need to do something to commemorate the 20^th anniversary of our Mac computers. I know! Let’s build an over-priced sound system wrapped in a horrendous, underpowered computer.
9. Apple Hockey Puck Mouse – This seemed to be a case of form over function if ever there was one. The rounded design was in no way ergonomic, requiring digital gymnastics to press its buttons while navigating. It was an idea that served no purpose beyond its unusual appearance.
10. G4 Cube – How they managed to sell something priced like this without even including a monitor is beyond us. Then again, you couldn’t really call it a cube if you had to tack on all those unsightly (albeit necessary) peripherals. They just detract so much from those really cool lines and completely ruin the minimalist design approach. Harrumph.

It’s safe to say that no matter how good of a track record someone has, there’s always room for some failure too. Apple proves this, and also goes on to prove that a little failure never hindered a lot of success.

Taken From Macapper