Category talk:Failed Apple Computer initiatives

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I'm not actually disputing any of the initiatives being listed here, but describing them as "aborted before any success" seems very open to interpretation. There is groundbreaking technology involved in some of these initiatives (Newton, Lisa) so from an R&D, software, QA, or manufacturing perspective perhaps they were not failures for Apple. Likewise, it's possible that Apple successfully learned about its market during these initiatives and set themselves up for subsequent successes, making the "failure" pay for itself (Lisa helping Macintosh, for example).

Expenditures and experiments can be justified as "successful" in ways other than immediate market share or profit. Maybe "financial" is simply the right word to be added here, but someone suggest objective criteria that could describe this list (and for future additions)? --Ds13 04:14, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)

"Failed" here means Apple intended it to make money, but it didn't. This shouldn't include research projects that were never supposed to be directly marketed. Did the Newton project make money? If not, it should certainly be here regardless of its effect on the rest of the industry. —Ashley Y 02:49, 2005 Apr 30 (UTC)

Wouldn't "Cancelled" be a better name? --Dtcdthingy 11:35, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

I just did some major work on the article about Kaleida Labs, where I used to work. I am wracking my brains to remember the details, but wasn't there some kind of plan to create a consumer version of Applelink? I would not include Applelink in my definition of a failed Apple initiative. Indeed, for a couple of years, it was brilliant, and served the company well. Still, it was strange to go to Apple as an employee, early in 1996, and find them still using Applelink, at a time when just about the whole world had already adopted the web. --Metzenberg 08:59, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Claris?

What about Claris? Swirsky 00:53, 30 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Claris was a going concern for many years, until Apple spun off FileMaker into it's own company and merged the remainder into Apple's consumer software division. I suppose someone decided to list it on this page because it is no more, but I would hardly call it a failure, financial or otherwise. --Chris Page 16:50, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

This category was nominated for deletion or renaming on 2006 February 4. The result of the discussion was no consensus. An archived record of this discussion can be found on this log page.

--Jbmcb 18:44, 31 July 2006 (UTC) I think a better name would be "Defunct Apple related technologies and products". It should contain technologies and unique products that have no bearing in the current marketplace. Examples: Pippin, the PowerCD player (battery powered portable CD player/CD-ROM drive for laptops, one of the first of it's kind I belive) MacTV (one of the first integrated multimedia machines) 20th Anniversary Mac (one of the first integrated home computers with an LCD) GeoPort, ARTA (The integrated general-purpose DSP system) AppleVision displays (integrated color calibration, software display controls) Apple Network Servers (high powered machines that ran AIX) I belive these are relavant entries as innovative technologies from a company that normally leads in consumer computing devices.

[edit] Macintosh Portable

I'm not sure how to add something to a category. Does anybody remember the first Macintosh portable computer, before the Powerbook came out? What was the damn thing called? --Metzenberg 09:16, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

It was called the Macintosh Portable. --Chris Page 16:46, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Rename or delete this category?

This category is problematic both because the title doesn't seem neutral and because it isn't clear what belongs in this category and what does not. Why is Balloon Help in this category? It was a feature of the Macintosh operating system for many years and was widely used. Claris was a profitable business for many years. HotSauce was a research project that (as far as I am aware) was never turned into a product.

This category should be deleted or renamed to something that makes it more obvious what belongs in it. --Chris Page 17:07, 6 July 2006 (UTC)