In Silicon Valley, it is said that failure is not a shame, but a badge of honour; proof that one had the courage to take risks. It’s a convenient narrative, but there is a grain of truth behind it. Even the biggest players with almost unlimited budgets – Google, Microsoft or Samsung – have had their share of spectacular stumbles.
Products that were supposed to revolutionise the market now rest in the technological graveyard. However, let’s forget about malice. Let’s look at these stories to extract universal and timeless business lessons.
Google Glass – When technology overtakes society
Do you remember 2012? Google presented the future to the world, and it came in the form of smart glasses. The Glass project, with its futuristic interface projected directly in front of the eye, created a wave of excitement.
The journalists and developers who joined the $1,500 Explorer programme felt they were touching tomorrow. They could shoot video, take photos and navigate, looking at the world through the lens of data.
However, the spell faded as quickly as it had appeared. Glass users became infamously known as ‘Glassholes’ because those around them felt permanently invigilated. Is my interlocutor recording me? Is he or she just taking my picture?
The lack of a clear answer to these questions spawned an insurmountable barrier. What’s more, beyond the ‘wow’ effect, no one really knew what the device was to be used for on a day-to-day basis.
It was a solution in search of a problem – expensive, weird-looking and socially troublesome.
Business moral: Innovation must be socially acceptable. The most advanced technology will fail if it ignores the cultural context, social norms and real user needs.
The lesson with Google Glass is simple: it is not enough to ask “can we build this?”, the key question is “should we and does anyone need it?”.
Windows Phone – Building a great product in a market vacuum
Microsoft was late to the smartphone revolution, but when it finally got into the game, it did so with aplomb. Windows Phone was a system that delighted critics. Its ’tile’ based interface, known as Metro UI, was fresh, elegant and ran incredibly smoothly even on weaker devices.
To pose a real challenge to the Apple and Google duopoly, the Redmond giant even took over Nokia’s legendary mobile division. It had a great system and excellent hardware on its hands. What could go wrong?
Everything that was around. The Windows Phone debacle is a textbook example of the problem known as the ‘app gap’. Users didn’t want a system that didn’t have Snapchat, the latest games or banking apps.
Developers, in turn, did not want to develop software for a platform with a marginal market share. This vicious circle proved deadly. Microsoft built a beautiful and capable car, but forgot about roads, petrol stations and garages.
Business moral: The product itself, even the best, is not enough. In today’s world, the king is the ecosystem. Users don’t buy the device or system itself – they buy access to millions of apps, services and communities. Without the support of third-party developers and a strong network effect, even the biggest player is doomed to fail.
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 – When haste leads to spontaneous combustion
In the second half of 2016, Samsung was on an upward wave. The Galaxy Note 7 was to be the masterpiece crowning its dominance of the Android market and the ultimate ‘iPhone killer’. The device received rave reviews for its symmetrical design, phenomenal screen and the best camera on the market. Sales kicked off. And then the phones started to flame out.
Reports of exploding batteries, initially treated as isolated incidents, quickly turned into a global crisis. It turned out that, in the pursuit of the thinnest possible chassis and the desire to get ahead of Apple’s launch, engineers had packed the battery cells too aggressively, leaving no room for them to work naturally.
Faulty design combined with insufficient quality assurance (QA) testing created a ticking bomb. A global recall and bans on bringing the product on board aircraft became an image nightmare.
Business moral: Never sacrifice quality and safety on the altar of speed-to-market (Time-to-Market). Foundations are more important than fireworks. One critical mistake can not only destroy a brilliant product, but also cost a company billions of dollars and, more valuable, years of rebuilding customer trust.
Golden lessons from the technology graveyard
The stories of Google Glass, Windows Phone and Galaxy Note 7 are more than curiosities – they are case studies illustrating key dynamics governing the technology market. The Google Glass story shows how even the most advanced technology can fail if it ignores societal needs and norms.
The case of Windows Phone, on the other hand, proves that in today’s world an isolated product, even a technically polished one, stands little chance against the power of a vibrant ecosystem.
Finally, the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco is a clear example that rushing and compromising on quality leads to the loss of the most valuable capital – customer trust.
These challenging failures are not a sign of weakness, but a natural part of the innovation process. The ability to learn from them and adapt is what ultimately creates more mature and successful products.
