As Thanksgiving approaches and families prepare to gather around the table to share turkey and stuffing, the Fierce editorial team decided it was time to look back at the products and companies that made news this past year for all of the wrong reasons.
This is our list of the top wireless turkeys of 2009--the products, ideas and business strategies that either didn't live up to expectations or were so poorly executed that they flopped with the consumer.
It was a tough year for many in the wireless industry, as companies coped with the effects of the economic recession. In the beginning of the year, many companies laid off workers, and industry observers lowered their expectations. For example, it became general wisdom early on this year that handset sales would be down, and the network infrastructure market would shrink.
In the face of this adversity, some companies, like Motorola and Palm, decided to completely revamp their mobile offerings, simply because they had to. It's unclear how those gambles will pay off, but both companies' futures appear brighter than they were this time last year.
Other companies, however, made some pretty large missteps. They ranged from products that simply did not take off, to entire business plans that went awry. Clearly, some 2009 turkeys are bigger than others, which is why we have ranked them on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the biggest disaster.
We know it's never nice to point out the faults and failures of others, but we believe that the wireless industry might learn from these struggles. While this list is by no means exhaustive, it does include some of what we believe are the bigger flops from 2009. As always, we welcome your comments and criticisms. --Phil
Click here to see the top wireless turkeys of 2009