10 Technologies that were Supposed to Blow Up but Never Did

To get a technology to market, it takes a lot of money, man power, and belief. Belief that once this technology hits the streets, people will embrace it and wonder how they ever lived a day without it. Unfortunately, as you know, this doesn't always happen. We've taken a look at 10 products that were supposed to change their respective games and wound up either becoming the butt of jokes or, worse, a complete afterthought.

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Year it was supposed to blow: 1999–

What happened: Quick Response Codes were all the rage in the late 90s and early 2000s. Some companies today still ask their customers to scan a QR code in order to win some sort of prize. It’s ridiculous. What started as a way for Toyota to quickly track vehicles during the manufacturing process has turned into a marketing gimmick that nearly one one uses. In the best case scenario, you scan a company’s QR code and you’re brought to their website. Worst case scenario, you scan a QR code believed to be from a company which turns out to be from a hacker and now your phone is compromised. This is the one time we wish Denso (a Toyota subsidiary) would enforce its patent.

Year it was supposed to blow: 1978–1999

What Happened: Handwriting recognition goes back all the way to the Palm Treos and the Apple Newton. Two devices that are no longer with us. Google has recently included handwriting recongition to its apps, but we think it’s pretty clear by now that people prefer to either speak to their phone via an app like Siri or just type it out. No one has time to scribble something down, wait for the phone to figure out what was written, and then try again once the phone incorrectly guesses that you were trying to write “Yeah” instead of “Yes.”

Year it was supposed to blow: 70s

What happened:Before hard disks took over as the dominant form of computer storage, Andrew Bobeck created what was supposed to be the next big thing: Bubble memory. Comprised of a thin film that of magnetized material that would store one bit of data in in little domains called bubbles, Bobeck’s memory was seen as the next big thing. Large companies like Bell Labs, Konami (which released an arcade system based around the memory), and even Intel invested in research. However, when the hard disk arrived with faster data speeds, more storage, and a cheaper production costs, all work on Bobeck’s baby came to a halt.

Year it was supposed to blow: 1998

What happened:Not to be confused with the DiVX codec, DIVX was a rental disc that was marketed by Circuit City. Here’s how it’d work: You would rent a movie on a DIVX disc for $4, go home and watch it on your DIVX player which was connected to a phone line. Once the 48-hour viewing window was up, the user had the option of paying more via their DIVX account to continue watching that movie It’s like the iTunes Store rental for movies but with a physical disc, and you had to have a special player. It’s no wonder it lasted slightly longer than Kim Ks marriage.

Year it was supposed to blow: 1997–

What happened:Augmented reality was first defined in 1997 by Roland Azuma who said AR is when the real world is augmented with real information. You’ve seen in in professional settings, most prominently in sports—the first down line in football, for example. However when it comes to consumer applications, augmented reality just hasn’t panned out. We’ve seen many iterations of this AR in the past few years from nearly every electronics company ranging from Nintendo to AT&T. Some games have proven the technology useful, but we’re still waiting for that one app to change our mind.

Year it was supposed to blow: 2011

What happened: One day, your smartphone will be powerful enough to double as your personal computer. When you come home from work, all you’ll have to do is plug your handset into a dock and you will be able to use it the same way you would a computer. That day has not yet arrived. Unfortunately, no one told Motorola. When it announced the Atrix 4G, one of the accessories it was touting was a laptop dock that would turn the powerful, full-featured smartphone into a full-fledged laptop. Only it didn’t. The dock itself was well-built and a pleasure to type on. But the phone, as powerful as it was, wasn’t nearly powerful enough to rock on its own as a computer. We feel this technology will eventually blow up. Just not this year. Or next.

Year it was supposed to blow: 2006–

What happened:After Blu-ray beat HD-DVD for the industry standard high definition video disk, Hollywood hoped it would go gang busters. Not exactly, while Blu-ray sales did increase greatly after HD-DVD threw in the towel, last year, a study from NPD group showed sales starting to dramatically slow. Analysts said the cause was the lack of 3D television sales and the fact that more people were downloading movies than ever before. Both of those reasons ring true, as does the fact that new DVD players now upscale to make regular ol’ DVDs look sharper than ever. But even DVD sales are on the decline. The MPAA needs to face the fact that the future of portable media isn’t a physical disc.

Year it was supposed to blow: 2001

What happened:The Segway was supposed revolutionize the way people walked. It was supposed to transform the way cities were laid out. At least that’s what inventor Dean Kamen thought. Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos both gave it their blessing. Upon its release, many countries have put restrictions in place limiting where people could ride Segways. For example, in about 30 states in the U.S. Users can not ride one on the sidewalk (so much for the walking part). In 2011, it was reported that about 80,000 Segways had been sold. Not a dismal failure by any means, but for a technology that was suppose to replace walking, it’s a tough break. Especially when the only people you see riding them are mall cops.

Year it was supposed to blow: 1978–1999

What happened:There would be no DVD or Blu-ray disc without the laser discs. Those of you who remember watching Thundercats can recall the car with the laser disco being carted into you classroom. So, what were Laser Discs? They were huge frisbee-sized discs that played video in even larger machines. They were big and expensive. However, video on a Laser Disco was on the whole sharper. So, what happened? Besides the astronomical price tag and the lack of titles, there was the fact that each side of Laser Disc required you to flip it over every 30 minutes. Also, they were very prone to scratches. And if you bought a certain brand of Laser Disco it wasn’t guaranteed that it would work in the player of a competing brand. Despite having a good run—LaserDiscs were produced up until the late 90s—it never took off in the U.S.A.

Year it was supposed to blow: 2009

What happened:Remember Chatroulette? The video social network that devolved into dong-filled peep show? Yeah, that didn’t bode too well for the future of video-based social networks. Other companies have come along in an attempt to pick up where Chatroulette founder Andrey Ternovsky left off. Sean Parker and Sean Fanning, for example, teamed backup to launch Airtime, a service where people can post videos and respond in real time. The verdict is still out on how that will pan out.