From Apple to Zune: big companies and their epic marketing fails The Apple Newton became a punchline at technology conferences. APPLE changed the game of technology with the launch of the iPhone and the iPad but it was a very different story when it launched the predecessor, the Apple Newton. Sure, you could write on it with natural handwriting - it was just reading the handwriting that was the problem. Microsoft has had it's share of fails, as has Coke, Telstra and even NASA. Here are some of the biggest failures we remember fondly. Tell us some of your own. What was the biggest lemon you bought, or avoided? Talkabout In 1993, Telstra (or Telecom as it was them) launched a hybrid cordless phone that it said would rival mobile phones. You could use it in your home or office as a cordless phone, by plugging a base station into the wall. When you were out and about, you could make phone calls but only if you were within 100m of a Talkabout public base station, which were few and far between. The phone and base station cost $1000. The idea was scrapped when people soon realised that a "mobile phone" that only worked if you happened to be near a particular sign wasn't very practical. Micosoft Zune Launched in 2006, the Zune was going to be Microsoft's answer to Apple's iPod that by then was five years old. By the time the Zune was launched, Apple had sold more than 100 million iPods. In the first two years of the Zune's life, Microsoft sold two million Zunes. The Newton The launch of the iPhone was a game changer in the technology world but long before that win Apple lost big time with the launch of the Newton in 1993. It was an early "personal digital assistant" that was most famous for being really ordinary at reading handwriting. If you've ever had problems with Siri understanding your speech, the Newton was the text version of that by a factor of 10. Steve Jobs came back to Apple and scrapped the Newton, but not before Microsoft folk at conferences embraced the Newton as a regular punchline. Iridium It was launched with great fanfare, and a $5 billion investment, as a global satellite network which meant you would always be in contact, assuming you were happy to spend $3000 for a big clunky phone and put up with a $5 a minute call cost. By the time it became one of the biggest bankruptcies in US history, it only had 10,000 subscribers. Oh, and you couldn't use it inside because you needed line of sight to the satellites. Epic fail. The Mars Climate Orbitor In December 1998, NASA launched the Mars Climate Orbiter at a cost of about $330 million. By the next September, the Orbiter arrived at Mars to much fanfare - although the fanfare ended abruptly. The probe designed to study Mars's atmosphere disintegrated as it went into orbit because one lot of rocket scientists used imperial measurements and another lot were using metric. New Coke The Coca-Cola Company in 1985 thought it would win back some of its marketshare lost to the competition by replacing its original recipe with New Coke, a move it was confident would succeed giving it had spent two years testing the formula on sample studies. The backlash was overwhelming, and in less than 80 days the company announced it was shifting back to Coca-Cola Classic. While New Coke survived until 1992 it was not available in Australia. Celery Jell-O While generations of Australians grew up loving their Aeroplane Jelly, not everyone was so lucky. In the 1960s, Kraft introduced Americans to the delight of celery flavoured Jell-O. Think of something repulsive and wobbly. Perhaps we should clarify that we're talking about the jell-o, not the people who ate it. Minor mini Sony only discontinued the MiniDisc players in March this year but it is a good bet the world stopped caring not long after they were introduced in 1992. The MiniDisc was probably the least popular music and data storage format since the eight-track. A brand too far The Bic disposable pen is considered an icon of post World War II design but not everything with the Bic name has been such a hit. In the 1970s, Bic released a range of disposable ladies underwear. Fill the gap In 2010, Gap launched a new logo but instead of being met with oohs and ahs, it was met with derision of Facebook and Twitter with a torrent of abuse and the slogan "Gap or Crap." It took just days to scrap the logo and the executive in charge of the redesign left the company a few months later. iSnack - or not When the makers of Vegemite launched a new cheesier variety, they chose iSnack 2.0 as the best name from a competition that involved 48,000 suggestions. Just four days later Kraft agreed that Australians didn't like the name and went back to the drawing board, giving iSnack 2.0 the (re) boot. Four-wheel steering It was billed as the great saviour to getting into and out of tight parking spots. The 1987 Honda Prelude was the first mass-produced car to come with four-wheel steering, with the rear wheels turned the opposite direction to the front wheels at low speeds which made parking a cinch and gave the car a much tighter turning circle. A year later fellow Japanese car maker Mazda followed with by adding four-wheel steering to its Honda Prelude rival, the MX-6 coupe. Modern steering and suspension systems are now so good that four-wheel steering is, largely, no longer necessary. Pop-up headlights They were designed to make sports-cars look sleek ever since they appeared on the 1963 Corvette, an era when cars were styled like four-wheeled rockets. Japanese, Italian and French car makers copied the idea in some humdrum coupes in the decades that followed. But changing tastes (designers now believe headlights are the "eyes" to a car and a key part of its personality) and pedestrian protection laws killed off pop-up headlights.