Sony's 10 greatest tech flops

Sony has had many successes, but not everything hits it big. Here are some products that didn't quite make it.

By Martyn Williams

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Since its founding in 1946, Sony has produced some of the biggest hits in consumer electronics. Brand names like Walkman, Handycam and Trinitron helped define the company as a giant in the industry and more recent hits like Cybershot, Vaio, Bravia and PlayStation have helped keep it there.

But no success story is failure-free. Let's take a look back at some Sony products that didn't win consumers' hearts and minds.

Sony Aibo

Sony's cute Aibo robot dogs, created by its Digital Creatures Laboratory and introduced in 1999, could move in a somewhat stilted fashion as far as their batteries would allow. They could express happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, fear, and dislike -- and deep-pocketed consumers snapped them up despite a sadness-, anger-, surprise-, fear-, and dislike-inducing US$2500 price tag. Aibo pooches continue to be loved by their owners today, but the price barrier prevented these robopets from going mainstream and conquering the world. Sony ended the project following a recent corporate restructuring.

Original story: Sony Shows Pet Robot, May 11, 1999.

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