Photo: Rob Boudon / Flickr

While companies like Apple, HTC, and Facebook soared to unseen highs in 2010, there were other companies that cowered in their corner, licking the wounds of battle, with products that were spectacular flops in the market place. Below is a list of some of the most anticipated 2010 tech that didn’t live up to expectations.

Microsoft Kin

Photo: abulhussain / Flickr

Prior to Windows Phone 7 shipping, Microsoft had developed a pair of mobile phones that had social networking built in as a core product, and targeted at the teenage market. The phones failed spectacularly, resulting in Microsoft pulling what was thought to be a $500 million project off of the market a mere 48 days after release The Microsoft Kin phones are easily some of the biggest tech flops of 2010.

Google’s social effort

Between Google Buzz and Google Wave, the search giant just hasn’t gotten social right. And with Facebook all but declaring it wants to own the internet, Google would do well to respond.

Photo: marketingfacts / Flickr

Problem is Google Wave, which for a long time many people didn’t even understand, was shuttered recently, whereas Google Buzz, the social tool built atop Gmail shipped to much excitement that was followed by privacy controversies. It would subsequently sputter out, making Google’s social initiatives well positioned to gain honour as some of the biggest flops in 2010 tech.

JooJoo

Prior to the iPad being unveiled, or launching, it emerged that TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington was working on a tablet product to ship to market. It was to be called the CrunchPad, but after a very public falling between him and his partners at TC, the project was eventually named the JooJoo. It sold woefully, with an email at one stage indicating it had sold just 70 copies.

Whether it was the iPad’s steamroll effect, poor technology, or the disassociation with TechCrunch, the JooJoo’s problems resulted in it waltzing onto our biggest tech flops of 2010, especially in the hugely promising tablet PCs space.

There are other products that failed rather spectacularly, too, but these three products, being quasi-smartphones, a tablet and social networks represent the three hottest areas in 2010 tech, and are sobering reminders that where there are big winners, one or two big losers will follow. What other 2010 tech do you believe belongs on this list?



Photo: Martin Olsson / Wikimedia Commons

Though we were once led to believe Microsoft thought the future was in the cloud, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has now stated he believes that the future is in smart devices, where Microsoft is competing most prominently using Windows Phone 7 Series and Windows 7 tablets.

During the Worldwide Partner Conference, Ballmer said, ‘This year, one of the most important things that we will do in the smart device category is really push forward with Windows 7 based slates and with Windows Phone 7 phones.’

Watch this space

After slating the iPad in a veiled attack, calling it ‘the other random device that’s not currently supported by corporate IT’, Ballmer beat his chest about the incoming flood of Windows 7 tablets, saying, ‘In the course of the next several months you will see a range of Windows 7 based slates which I think you’ll find quite impressive. They will come from the people you would expect: from Asus, from Dell, from Samsung, from Toshiba, from Sony.’

Point man

Ballmer is reportedly under a lot of pressure from Microsoft’s investors and shareholders to start performing. The company’s head honcho, who is rumoured to be heading up the Entertainment & Devices division that was shaken up prior to the execution of the Microsoft Kin project, needs a pair of huge victories to stem the tide for Microsoft. The software giant runs the risk of being too reliant on its legacy businesses to be able to compete effectively.

In this respect, Windows 7 tablets need to be, at the very least, a success, and Windows Phone 7 Series needs to be an absolute home run. The embarrassment felt across Redmond over the death of Microsoft Kin is said to have damaged the whole company’s morale, and patience may be wearing thin with Ballmer’s leadership capabilities.

Photo: Microsoft

Not that we endorse inter-family violence, but Microsoft has announced that it has abandoned its Microsoft Kin One and Microsoft Kin Two social phones. The company is attributing the product culling to wanting to focus on Windows Phone 7 Series, but it appears weak sales are to blame.

Short life

A mere two months after being launched, the Microsoft Kin One and Microsoft Kin Two social phones aimed at teenagers will be discontinued. This means that the previously planned European launch for the duo of phones will no longer happen. Microsoft has announced that it is pulling the phone series because the company would rather focus on Windows Phone 7 Series, but the primary reason is believed to be soft sales. It is rumoured that, to date, Microsoft has only sold 500 units of its Kin phones.

Reason for the executive shake up?

With a corporation as large as Microsoft, in the event a major product release fails, usually someone gets blamed and, as the saying goes, heads roll. One will note that Microsoft Kin One and Microsoft Kin Two both belong to the Entertainment & Devices division previously headed up by Robbie Bach and evangelised by J. Allard. They have both left the company during this period, rekindling the rumours that they were let go, as opposed to leaving of their own accord.

Good idea

Microsoft’s decision to focus exclusively on Windows Phone 7 Series is a wise move on the Redmond Giant’s part, regardless of the cause. Not only are they displaying the kind of focus often called for from others, they’re displaying they haven’t underestimated the enormity of the task ahead of them. Once Windows Phone 7 is released, it will be going toe to toe with the iPhone 4 – a device selling as fast as they make them – and the Google Android lineup. Add to that the newfound energy – and financial power – Palm has with HP backing it, Windows Phone 7 Series isn’t taking a stroll in the park, and (next of) Kin would just be a distraction.

Photo: Microsoft

Microsoft recently hosted a special event where they finally revealed the worst kept secret in mobile technology, their Microsoft Kin – previously known as Project Pink – line of phones aimed at teenagers.

Two very Sharp devices

The pair of phones, both manufactured by Sharp, are web-enabled and have been dubbed, somewhat lazily, Kin 1 and Kin 2. Microsoft predicts these touchscreen phones will appeal to their target demographic by having a huge focus on social aspects of the web, from social networking to content sharing.

Loop, Spot, Studio

Kin’s primary differentiators from Windows Phone 7 Series devices are Kin Loop, Kin Spot and Kin Studio, while they do borrow from the same great Zune Marketplace integration headed for MS’s OS.

Photo: Twitter

Kin Loop acts as a central, single-page hub for following all your social network contact across Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, and whichever other networking sites you use. The concept is very similar to what Motorola has been trying with its Motorola Blur function.

Kin Spot is the place where users can share information with their friends, such as location, pictures, and links to webpages.

Kin Studio, finally, is a nifty little web-based service that backs up all the content created on the Kin device, such as images snapped, videos recorded and messages shared. This content is organized in a timeline, so users can access their content according to when it was created.

Fantastic Zune integration

One of the major surprises of the Windows Phone 7 Series was how well Microsoft services like Zune Marketplace and Xbox Live were integrated. Kin borrows this concept by integrating the device into Microsoft’s Zune Marketplace, which on initial inspection is blisteringly quick. Zune Marketplace, with its £10 monthly subscription model to an unlimited library of music, is a great example of Microsoft beating Apple at its own game.

Photo: Stock.Xchng

Early impressions show that tech bloggers are in agreement that the phones are very well-built and have very accomplished touchscreen interfaces, though they try to do too much at once, inadvertently making the experience uncluttered and unpleasant.

However, one needs to bear in mind that tech bloggers are not the target market, and how much traction the Microsoft Kin phones will have with teens will only be seen once teens get their hands on them. Moreover, it will be interesting to see if teens are really looking for phones aimed at them as opposed to the Android, iPhone, BlackBerry and other smartphones everybody else is focusing on.

The Kin 1 and the Kin 2 will be available on Verizon in May, with Vodafone availability scheduled for later, meaning the UK may get these handsets yet.

Look forward to a thorough review of the Microsoft Kin devices closer to the release date.