Welcome to the end of 2014!
We're looking back at the biggest failures in tech. What does it take to be on this list? There's nothing set in stone, but for the most part, it's a bad product, or a big stumble from a company during the year.
Flops are not the worst thing in the world. As Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos recently said, "Companies that don't embrace failure, they get in the desperate position where the only kind of thing they can do is make a hail mary bet at the very end of their corporate existence."
Another way to look at it: If you everything you do is working, then you're not being bold enough.
With that said... let's see the flops!
15. Microsoft's Band
Microsoft unexpectedly released a fitness tracking gadget. The snap reaction was to applaud Microsoft for quietly releasing a new fitness gadget. It was a very un-Microsoft move to quickly, quietly release a new product. But that only counts for so much. The product itself was thoroughly trashed by critics. CNET said, "It has mediocre battery life; it's not swim-friendly; Bluetooth syncing and pairing can be buggy; the Microsoft Health app isn't that easy to use, and learned insights seem few and far between. Heart-rate accuracy seems to be a little inconsistent, too."
14. Swing Copters
One of the biggest successes this year was Flappy Bird, a primitive, frustrating iPhone game that went viral. The game's developer pulled the game because it was so successful. He was just one guy and the popularity of the app overwhelmed him. The decision to pull the game only enhanced interest and hype. When he returned with Swing Copters as a follow up, people were expecting a second hit. Alas, it wasn't to be. Swing Copters never really caught on like Flappy Bird.
13. Rupert Murdoch buying Time Warner
In the middle of July, Rupert Murdoch dropped a grenade in the media world — He was offering to buy Time Warner for $80 billion. By August, he gave up on the deal, and hasn't turned back. It was a strange, brief episode.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider