2013 has been a great year, thanks to a number of new devices that have been launched. We have seen breakthrough products like Intel’s Haswell Processor and Google’s Chromecast. The smartphone arena has also seen a steady stream of successes for 2013. Top mobile phone manufacturers, Apple and Samsung, both have their flagships ahead of the race – with the Samsung S4 and Apple iPhone 5 line selling over 40 million units. As much success was seen in the tech world, there are several products that failed to sell. Here are our TOP 5 products that were overhyped in 2013.
5. Pebble Smartwatch
The Pebble Smartwatch is a digital timepiece developed by Pebble technologies and released in 2013. The Pebble Smartwatch boasts an interactive interface, loaded with apps for everyday use. It can send users notifications when they receive an email and has a cycling app to measure distance and speed by the use of GPS, and so on. It was made available through pre-ordering back in 2012. The Pebble Smartwatch was a result of a public funding campaign on Kickstarter, pledged by nearly 70,000 people, and as of July 2013, it had only sold a disappointing 85,000 units. The Pebble was generally received positively, but the interest for the Pebble dwindled down as the reality sets in. Other than providing notifications, the Pebble has little use for anything else.
4. Samsung Galaxy Gear
Another overhyped device that flopped is the Samsung Galaxy Gear. There was a large amount of hype and interest after Samsung’s Galaxy Gear announcement. It was said that the Galaxy Gear would start a new era of smartwatches. After the device was unveiled in 2013, it gained mixed reviews. It turns out that the Galaxy Gear was not appealing aesthetically, and the price was too high. Also, the Galaxy Gear was supposed to work with Samsung smartphones – which it didn’t. The Galaxy Gear was a good product released way too early. Despite the mixed reviews, the Galaxy Gear performed modestly in the market.
3. Motorola Moto-X
The Motorola Moto-X is an Android Smartphone. It was widely marketed by Google, and the product was heralded as the resurrection for the seemingly dead Motorola brand (which is also a Google subsidiary). The smartphone was made only available in the US. It garnered mixed reviews, and failed miserably on the market. On the third quarter, The Motorola Moto-X only sold 500,000 units. Users say that the phone falls short in comparison to other Android phones in the market in terms of specs and pricing.
2. Microsoft Surface RT
The Microsoft Surface was introduced for the Windows OS to compete with the giants in the handheld market – iOS and Android. It’s one of those products that tech analysts want to succeed because they believe that the competition that Microsoft will provide will balance the market for handheld devices. It turns out that even with an expertly engineered product; Microsoft fails to sell versus the existing operating systems. The product gained positive reviews but failed to sell on the market. Microsoft took a $900million charge for the surface.
1. Blackberry 10 line
The Blackberry 10 is an operating system developed by Blackberry for the Q and Z lines – the most notable models being Z10 and Q10. It is widely believed that the Blackberry 10 would dig Blackberry out of its imminent grave. A part of the hype for the Blackberry 10 was that it was going to support Android apps on its phones. Some see this as a joint venture between Google’s Android OS and Blackberry to take on Apple’s iOS. Despite numerous sponsorships and TV ads, the Blackberry 10 smartphones fail to make a dent on the market and the company ended up trying to recover from its loss.
What do you think was the most overhyped product of 2013? We are interested to hear your opinions in our comments section below, so please do not hesitate to drop a few words. Thank you.
About Ali Gajani
Hi. I am Ali Gajani. I started Mr. Geek in early 2012 as a result of my growing enthusiasm and passion for technology. I love sharing my knowledge and helping out the community by creating useful, engaging and compelling content. If you want to write for Mr. Geek, just PM me on my Facebook profile.
