Tech Giants That Got It Wrong...

Interesting reading today on news.com.au

Here are the best tech predictions that have gone horribly wrong.

1876: “The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys.” — William Preece, British Post Office.

1876: “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication.” — President of Western Union William Orton.

1903: “The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty — a fad.” — president of the Michigan Savings Bank advising Henry Ford’s lawyer not to invest in the Ford Motor Company.

1943: “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” — chairman of IBM Thomas Watson.

1946: “Television won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.” — 20th Century Fox studio executive Darryl Zanuck.

1959: “Before man reaches the moon, your mail will be delivered within hours from New York to Australia by guided missiles. We stand on the threshold of rocket mail.” — US Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield.

1961: “There is practically no chance communications space satellites will be used to provide better telephone, telegraph, television or radio service inside the United States.” — Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioner T.A.M. Craven.

1966: “Remote shopping, while entirely feasible, will flop.” — Time Magazine.

1977: “There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home.” — Founder of Digital Equipment Corp Ken Olsen in a speech to the World Future Society.

1981: “Cellular phones will absolutely not replace local wire systems.” — Inventor Marty Cooper

1995: “I predict the internet will soon go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 catastrophically collapse.” — Founder of 3 Com Robert Metcalfe.

1996: “Apple [is] a chaotic mess without a strategic vision and certainly no future.” -
Time Magazine

1996:“Apple’s erratic performance has given it the reputation on Wall Street of a stock a long-term investor would probably avoid.”— Fortune.

1996: “Whether they stand alone or are acquired, Apple as we know it is cooked. It’s so classic. It’s so sad.” - a Forrester Research analyst quoted in the New York Times.

1997: “Apple is already dead.” — former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold.

2002: “Within five years, I predict [the tablet] will be the most popular form of PC sold in America.” — Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in a speech at Comdex introducing the Windows tablet PC.

2003: “The subscription model of buying music is bankrupt. I think you could make available the Second Coming in a subscription model, and it might not be successful.” — Steve Jobs interview with Rolling Stone.

2004: “Two years from now, spam will be solved.” — Bill Gates at the World Economic Forum

2006: “Everyone’s always asking me when Apple will come out with a cell phone. My answer is, ‘Probably never.’” — New York Times journalist David Pogue

2007: “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share.” — Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer.

We can’t hold it against these people, evolving technology can be hard to understand. Just ask the hosts of this segment of the Today Show talking about the internet in 1994.

In the meantime have an amazing day everybody.

Regards from Derick Mildred

www.1stpagewebsites.com.au