From collapsing of phones to more wireless earbuds than we can name, there was a lot of new tech we fell in love within 2019.
But for every new eye-popping widget we tried, there was the one that never made it. From Apple toys that once had so much assurance (Airpower or 12 inch MacBook) to those that were probably ruined from the start (Movie Pass. Coolest Cooler), this is our annual leftovers that no product or service can carry on itself for publicity alone.
Let’s take a moment and pour one out for the entire tech that didn’t make it through 2019:
Airpower:
A wireless charging pad that wasn’t. Apple debuted the accessory all the way back in 2017 alongside the Series 3 Apple Watch. The idea was simple: a wireless charger that could fit all your devices and wouldn’t take up an entire bedside table. We may never know exactly what went wrong, but there’s a small glimmer of hope for anyone still holding out for an Apple-branded wireless charger.
iTunes:
As we close out the decade, perhaps it’s only fitting that the software we all used to manage our music libraries in the early 2000s has reached the end of its life. macOS Catalina officially killed the app as we knew it, through much of its functionality lives on in Apple Music, the App Store, and elsewhere. The software was both iconic- it went hand in hand with the iPod, after all- and buggy as hell. Still, even in 2019, it had some uses and not everyone was stoked to see it go.
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Movie Pass:
Some things really are good to be true. And Movie Pass, which skyrocketed to fame for allowing its subscribers to see an unlimited number of movies for just $9.99 a month, definitely was. The business model was so obviously unsustainable and yet millions of us couldn’t resist joining the ride for as long as we could. Sadly, we all know how it ended: The money finally ran out and, after multiple botched attempts to keep surging costs under control, Movie Pass called it quits for good in September.
Coolest Cooler:
There was a time when the Coolest Cooler was the king of the kick starter. Then the record-breaking cooler quickly became a cautionary tale for everything not to do on kick starter. Coolest founders were not equipped to meet the incredible demand for the cooler that came with a built-in blender and Bluetooth speaker. After repeated delays, price hikes, and a Justice Department investigation, the coolest saga finally came to a close this month when the company announced it was shutting down for good, even though thousands of its original kick starter backers never received their coolers.
