Tech predictions that were wrong and thank god for that!
What's the story
Tech trends are very unpredictable. When a new thing appears in the market, there's always a debate. We have pundits, giving their verdict on it and saying whether it's going to work or not.
Well, sometimes they're right and sometimes they are way off the mark and their "I told you so" falls flat on the face.
Here's more on such tech prediction blunders.
Internet
Eat your words, Mr. Metcalfe
Let's start with a biggie. Robert Metcalfe, who co-invented Ethernet, said that the Internet wouldn't work.
He went ahead with this notion and in 1995 made the prophecy, "I predict the Internet will soon go spectacularly supernova and in 1996 catastrophically collapse."
Needless to say in 1996, it didn't happen. Metcalfe got his prediction printed and ate it. I am not kidding, I swear.
Ford
We have horses, no need for cars
When cars were first introduced, people used horse carriages. Ford, which started the entire automobile revolution, had to face quite a hard time with his four wheelers minus horses.
President of Michigan Savings Bank then had advised Henry Ford's lawyer not to invest in Ford Motor Company citing, "The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty - a fad."
TV
That idiot box will not steal my thunder
20th Century Fox is one of the biggest names in the movie business.
Darryl Zanuck, the then President of Fox, had prophetically said, "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."
Well, people didn't. They still watch garbage there, Netflix's popularity notwithstanding!
YouTube
Too many videos, repeat, too many videos
Everybody loves YouTube. There's no dearth of content on this platform. From random videos to content created exclusively for this platform, it hosts them all.
However, the founders were not so sure about the entire "YouTube" thing that they had created. "There's just not that many videos I want to watch," said Steve Chen, the co-founder in 2005.
Trust me Steve, there are.
Apple
The Apple of my eye
My favorite story among these would be of Apple. No phone was as lampooned as Steve Job's iPhone was.
A section of columnists and market leaders of the business back then said, it was fated for doom.
Well, they had to take back their words. As for the big names, they sank into oblivion.
Apple and its iPhones remained and are still going strong.