Apple, the tech giant, seems to have the blueprint to success. The company is valued at over $3 trillion, and almost every product they release becomes an instant hit. Is it the sleek design, the innovative features, or the premium feel that makes their products a must-have? It's probably in everything the company does, and that's why Apple products have become a lifestyle for many people.
However, despite having many successful products, some didn't quite hit their targets and some even ended up in the graveyard of the forgotten. Earlier products like the Apple Newton, Apple Lisa, and Macintosh TV recorded low sales and were even discontinued.
Recently, Apple continues to release innovations that don't resonate with the masses and end up with poor reviews and ultimately low revenues.
1. Apple Vision Pro
Poised to be the technology of the future, the Apple Vision Pro launched to an impressive start. Its future-looking VR headset seemed to be the cool gadget that everyone would want to own. Sadly, that wasn't the case.
The company had big expectations for the project, but IDC, a research firm, estimated that sales wouldn't reach 500,000 units this year. One of the main reasons for the low sales was its high price tag of $3,500 per piece, a point even Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal's Ben Cohen, Tim mentioned that the Apple Vision Pro wasn't a mass-market product but rather an early adopter's product. "The gadget was mainly bought by people who want tomorrow's technology today," he said.
Nonetheless, the Apple Vision Pro had some top-notch features like dual 4K micro-OLED displays, spatial audio, and AR/VR modes. With such specs, the gaming experience was to get to a whole new level.
Video games would become more immersive and casino games enjoyed on mobile casinos would become more interactive. For gamers, the Apple Vision Pro had great potential to unlock a new experience. However, it is reported that Apple has suspended any work on the next generation of the Vision Pro headset.
2. Apple TV
Talk about a risky venture. Apple TV was set to become the company's media hub and provide streaming services for Apple's ecosystem. But once again, the product didn't get the numbers they hoped for. In a market saturated with competitors, this was a risky bet, even for a mammoth company like Apple.
Its main competitors, Roku and Amazon Fire Stick, won people over because of two things-lower prices and broader adoption of different devices. Apple's streaming platform also has a small share of TV viewers in the United States at only 0.2%.
To paint a picture of how dire the situation is, Netflix gets more views in one day than Apple TV+ gets in one month. Despite having great content and spending about $20 billion on movies and shows since it launched, Apple TV+ fell short of its expectations.
3. Apple's HomePod
After Apple's AirPods were launched and sold out like crazy, they figured hearables and sound-related gadgets would be a great money-making venture. In 2018, the company released the HomePod, a smart speaker with high-quality sound that aimed to rival Amazon's Echo and Google's Home devices.
Unlike the AirPods, the HomePod registered low sales and could only take a 10% share of the market. Some reasons for its underwhelming performance included limited Siri functionality, a high price, and its closed Apple ecosystem.
One of the highly recognized tech YouTubers, Marques Brownlee, reviewed the product and said, "The HomePod is a really good product and a really bad product at the same time." But it's not just him, a couple of other tech YouTubers highlighted their disappointment with the product. Apple later discontinued the product in 2021 to focus on the smaller but improved version, the HomePod Mini.
In a surprising turn of events, the company relaunched the product two years later with minor improvements. The smart speaker now has better features but still struggles to compete with Amazon Echo and Google Nest devices.
Will There Be More
Probably yes. But that's a good thing because the company proves time and time again that it doesn't shy away from innovation. Some products launch to great success, while others do not. In the long run, this willingness to innovate has made Apple one of the biggest tech companies of our time.
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