What tech were you spectacularly wrong about?

1

Inspired by the “What Tech Did You take Too Long to Buy” topic – what tech were you spectacularly wrong about?

Me:

  • I thought cameraphones were a stupid idea. Why would you want a camera in your phone? That’s like one of those ridiculous gadets that makes coffee and toast and a sandwich all at the same time. It’s a gimmick – not something people will actually want.
  • I thought Second Life was going to be huge, and we’d all run around with avatars.
7 Likes
2

“Who needs an iPad?” – says me who’s gone through a dozen of these in the years since I had that opinion.

4 Likes
3

I really wanted a phone+clock radio combo for my 13th birthday. After looking all over town for “just the right one” I was convinced to buy separately, one phone and one alarm clock. I threw away the broken phone when I was 19. My wife counts on the Sony “Dream Machine” clock radio to wake her up every weekday morning. I just turned 48.

6 Likes
4

A couple back during the '90s and 2000s stand out:

  • I took two runs at the Personal Digital Assistant (PalmOS and Windows CE). I used them for a while, but neither managed to really stick. It wasn’t until the iPhone that the concept really worked for me (and a lot of other people).
  • I was really in to Minidiscs for a while in the early 2000s. Still a neat technology, but they didn’t last long before the iPod totally demolished that space.
5 Likes
5

I knew I wasn’t the only one!

4 Likes
6

You’ve been using the same clock radio for 35 years? Holy mackerel!

1 Like
7

When I first heard about AirPort, I sincerely thought it was meant to be used in airports and couldn’t imagine that that would ever, uh, fly.

I also thought the iPod was kind of silly, because who in their right mind would keep their music library on a computer?

3 Likes
8

That’s great, made me chuckle!

9

« Apple tech is just toys for people who don’t know better » - me until 2016 when I tested the original iPad Pro
The stupid things we can say…
(Now full in the Apple ecosystem, on a Mac Power Users forum… My fiancée makes me bite my words every time she gets :sweat_smile:)

6 Likes
10

Like many of you I took many attempts at PDAs, both Palm and WinCE - they all failed.
I was huge in to MiniDisc and thought MP3s were dumb.

4 Likes
11

I know! It’s a beast. I use my phone, but sometimes I set it or turn it off for my wife. I could do it blindfolded I’ve had it so long.

3 Likes
12

For many years, I was using a 1970s clock radio with a flip style clock. It was, for some reason, always precisely eight minutes slow. It finally gave up the ghost in the early 2000s.

I wish I still had the clock.

UPDATED: Here’s the model

3 Likes
13

Ah, I have another one.
I am one of the three people on Earth with a PS Vita.

4 Likes
14

I’d say the Sony Dream Machine alarm clockwise was the first item that when my first one broke, it was a no brainer to get a direct replacement. I now use my phone next two my bed but just recently have been re-thinking that. So … maybe the Dream Machine makes a comeback!

2 Likes
15

I was convinced the iPhone would be a flop because a smartphone without a real keyboard would be useless. I thought Blackberry had the right design.

I turned out to be in the minority.

3 Likes
16

When Apple Watch first came out, I thought that it didn’t have a place in my workflows. My iPhone has a clock on the face. Since becoming a long distance runner, there isn’t a day when I don’t use it for something besides tracking my runs.
Man, was I wrong.

4 Likes
17

Windows Phone with Continuum.

1 Like
18

Digital music!
I thought that downloads could never replace albums with booklets, photos of the band members, cryptic liner notes, lyrics and great cover art, gatefold packaging etc.
I was a total heavy metal fanatic at the time (early 2000’s) and just didn’t get that most people just consume music and didn’t care that much.

3 Likes
19

Lol… When the IPhone 4 came out with a decent camera, I posted on the Canon forums that I could see a phone camera replacing at least a small point and shoot camera and perhaps even be the one go to camera for a lot of people. Boy, did I get hazed for that comment! Everyone thought I was wrong, and some really ripped me a new one… but it turns out I was right! :grin:

3 Likes
20

Going all in, I spent a fairly staggering amount of money on a top of the line MBP 15" with that keyboard, thinking it would last me 7 years or more.
Had one keyboard change and now the screen is dead and battery dying, with repair costs at £800+.

It does run games on our tv, so it’s not dead yet.

1 Like