What products are you surprised that succeeded?

[JEDI]

For me, it's the Wii and iPad.

when nintendo first announced the name of their new console, i was like thats a stupid name. people are going to be turned off by the dumb name.

as for the iPad:
i was for sure that it would fail. every other computer company that came out w/a tablet has failed.

glad i didnt short Apple back then like I am now...

 

[Miramonti]

I was sure the volkswagen beetle would be a failure when it first came out, but I was young and naive at the time.

 

[OverVolt]

The iPaD I'm surprised was a success, who in the why.... I give up, I don't know why anyone bought it.

The iPhone was not a surprise at all, I thought it was the next logical step. The Wii I thought was also cool, because the video games graphics competition was drying up and it became more about fun and Nintendo was actually ahead of the curve.

 

[postmortemIA]

I expected that Chrysler would fail completely with anything post-bankruptcy. Glad that they managed to pull it off, so many depend of their success.

 

[OverVolt]

I expected that Chrysler would fail completely with anything post-bankruptcy.

rofl. Maybe in due time.

 

[MrColin]

Those post 9/11 bumper stickers with the photoshopped tear on the bald eagle.

 

[weadjust]

I was sure the volkswagen beetle would be a failure when it first came out, but I was young and naive at the time.

Damn how old are you? The first one was made in 1938.

Manufacturer Volkswagen Beetle
Production 1938–2003
21,529,464 built
(of which 15,444,858 in Germany, incl. 330,251 Cabriolets,[4]
and ≈ 3,350,000 in Brazil)

 

[mmntech]

The iPad was one. I remember when it launched, everybody said "who'd want a giant iPod Touch?!" I thought it seemed stupid. I eventually caved and bough one eight months later and was thoroughly impressed by it. My tablet has almost completely replaced my laptop as a mobile computer.

 

[Miramonti]

Damn how old are you? The first one was made in 1938.

Manufacturer Volkswagen Beetle
Production 1938–2003
21,529,464 built
(of which 15,444,858 in Germany, incl. 330,251 Cabriolets,[4]
and ≈ 3,350,000 in Brazil)

not old enough to have learned always to be truthful.

 

[shortylickens]

I came in specifically to say iPad, and see I am beat by like 3 other people.

Also, smart phones. The idea of poor and lower middle class people carrying 600 dollar pocket computers around in their jeans with big holes in the pockets just astounds me. Those folks would never even consider 600 dollars worth of clothing or jewelry, and they last a lot longer than phones.

And SUV's. Despite the exploding price of gasoline they sell better every year. I remember when the Suburban was the only one, and it wasnt called an SUV, that term didnt exist yet. And the few people who had them used the things for practical purposes.
MOST people with massive SUV's just dont need them and probably shouldnt have them, especially since they indenture themselves to the dealers for 6 years and the stupid things depreciate faster than you can pay them off.

 

[manimal]

pdas

I was sure the newton was going to change the world.


turned out to be a bit too early.

 

[shortylickens]

pdas

I was sure the newton was going to change the world.


turned out to be a bit too early.

Yeah people definitely needed and wanted PDA's but obviously we'd have to go through a couple generations of stuff and some failures before we got what we needed.

I'm still surprised Palms were so popular. Especially the first gen B&W models. The things were MUCH more difficult to use than a little address book. Manually syncing with a computer, very limited storage capacity, I am so glad we have modern smartphones that can do everything over cellular or wifi.

 

[shortylickens]

Actually, its a teeny bit ironic now that I think about it.

Palm pioneered a lot of features on the Pre which are now standard on other smartphones, but they went out of business anyway.

 

[Craig234]

Republican politicians.

Another is the TV show "Hogan's Heroes".

I've always wondered about the pitch for that show 20 years after the concentration camps, "hey, let's have a tv show about a German PoW camp - and it's a comedy!"

 

[nanette1985]

Pretty much anything Apple. I liked my Atari so much more than my Apple II - but I guess some other people liked their Apple II's.

 

[Drako]

Republican politicians.

That's a product?

You are dumb man - catastrophically dumb.

 

[SandEagle]

Ford Fusion

 

[Rastus]

Facebook

 

[Destiny]

Big Smart phones... back in my days everyone wanted small thin clam shaped phones, then Apple made everyone want big phones again...D:

 

[ultimatebob]

glad i didnt short Apple back then like I am now...

Shorting Apple right before the launch of the iPhone 5 and possibly the Apple TV sounds dicey... Be careful!

 

[amdhunter]

vbulletin

 

[Northern Lawn]

The iPad was one. I remember when it launched, everybody said "who'd want a giant iPod Touch?!" I thought it seemed stupid. I eventually caved and bough one eight months later and was thoroughly impressed by it. My tablet has almost completely replaced my laptop as a mobile computer.

I seem to do the opposite. I buy things just as they go extinct thinking they are cutting edge.

I bought a $2400 Amega 500 computer in 1992ish. When it broke I found out Amega is no more. Everything is PC...

I bought a $650 Dell Atimv? Palm Pilot, best they had... 6 months later they stopped making them and smart phones took over.

Oh and last years I bought a Black Berry Torch and look what happened to them... I'm starting to think its me

 

[drum]

Ford Fusion

esplain?

 

[JPS35]

The Interwebs

 

[OverVolt]

E-cigarettes, honestly. It seemed stupid, and peddled by alot of small vendors, then every other smoker I know has them.