Hindsight is 20/20, and looking back, it’s easy to see why these five highly publicized launches soon fizzled:

1. Aibo (Sony’s robotic dog): When Sony first introduced the idea, the media ate it up. Aibo was a Jetsons-style robodog that not only barked and fetched the paper, but also spoke nearly 1,000 words and even included a component for facial recognition. It seemed like the futuristic gimmick du jour at the time of its release.
   Downfall: Aibo was a $2,000 item, which not only made it a vanity purchase, it also made it worlds more expensive than a real dog. As the economy hit the skids, buying $2,000 robotic dogs was no longer en vogue. From a marketing perspective Aibo may have failed because there was very little to bank on in terms of ROI. While it was good for a laugh with friends and family, much more functional, less expensive gadgets like the iPhone, iPod and BlackBerry served a more practical purpose.
2. CueCat: With so much content moving online, the concept for CueCat was a brilliant one. Users could plug it into a USB port, then scan the page of a print publication so they were immediately taken to the online url for that story, making it easier to print, email, or save a piece using their desktop PC.
   Downfall: The CueCat wasn’t compatible with a lot of print publications, nor did every pub carry the bar codes necessary to link to online content. On top of which, it was actually much easier to simply go to a search engine and type in the name of the story, making CueCat a brilliant, but obsolete item.
3. MSN Direct: The idea to beam weather, news stories and other online content directly to devices like a wristwatch seemed revolutionary when it originally hit the market.
   Downfall: Cellphones and Palm Pilots were already starting to include this type of technology, which meant consumers had no need for the high-priced wristwtaches that were compatible with MSN Direct.
4. The Nokia N-Gage: Combining a cell phone and a video game system seemed a revolutionary idea at the time, considering both markets were booming.
   Downfall: The cell phone buttons were too small for playing video games and the design of the product itself meant people had to hold it sidewards whenever they used it as a phone. The N-Gage suffered from square-peg syndrome, and soon after its release cell-phone users went back to playing standby faves like Tetris and Snood on cell phone models with a more standard design.
5. The stand-alone DVD Recorder: For a hot minute there was every reason to believe this item would become the VCR of the 21st century.
   Downfall: Technology moves so rapidly these days, and TV was already hot on the DVD’s heels with the introduction of services like TiVo and OnDemand. Add on Netflix and DVRs, as well as YouTube and the advent of online TV/movies, and the stand-alone DVD recorder never had a chance.

Are there any other major flops we missed here? If so, feel free to submit your own ideas in the comments section below.

Source: “The Biggest Tech Flops of the Decade,” by David Lagesse, U.S. News and World Report