10 of the most ill-fated gadgets

23 Aug 2011

Sinclair C5 with rain cover

Sinclair C5

Sir Clive Sinclair may have brought computing to the UK masses, but his vehicular venture bombed. The electric-assisted C5 trike went on sale in January 1985 and was a dead eco-dream by August, with 17,000 being sold – mostly to people who wished they'd bought the optional rain cover.

Comments

  1. davidkclark

    1 year ago

    For me the most disappointing ill-fated gadget was the Courier. I thought it was an awesome little gadget and the videos Microsoft chucked out for it looked awesome. I guess I'll just have to make do with an iPad and a Scribbly.

  2. Simon Osborne-Walker

    1 year ago

    The Courier was just vapourware, which is why we didn't include it, but I agree - shame it never actually got made.

  3. mattjennings

    1 year ago

    I still have an HD-DVD player (somewhere) if anyone wants it. £500 i paid for it. Correct early adoption never a strong point. Let me know if anyone wants it. It does work.

  4. markster1971

    1 year ago

    the thing is, If hp had used the brains. and used the android OS, they would be still selling the by the boat full today. its a great device and got a lot to offer.

    And also the dreamcast was another amazing mis marketed device and sega just wanted to publish all games. if they had let the third party developers onboard sooner. it would of been a big threat to PS2.

    Shame though F355 challenge was as good as GT on PS2. graphically and gameplay. well these things happen.

Add your comment

You must be logged in to comment