The macrocosm of cellphones is a hugely competitive business organisation . Numerous companies have jockeyed for market share over the years , both before and after the ilk of Apple and Samsung take aim over as the two most dominant troupe . And while the iPhone and Galaxy marque are generally consider the premiere mobile devices of today , there have been plenty of challengers for that can — both before and after Apple and Samsung combined to grab almost all of the smartphone business .
It turns out that succeeding in the cell phone biz is hard than it looks . It takes a combination of a great product , excellent selling , and a turn of luck to have a best - selling phone . The company who manufactured these 13 phones apace learned it the hard way , and in some cases , have barely bothered to test again since .
13. BlackBerry Storm
Poor BlackBerry , they soared so high and then fell so hard . They were licitly one of the first company to take over the smartphone marketplace , although they looked a lot different back then . There were no touchscreens or awful photographic camera , just physical keyboards and clickwheels . But hey , the BlackBerries could get at electronic mail and get online , so that was a gradation fore .
As the rise of touchscreen smartphones was in full golf stroke , BlackBerry mat they needed to be in that market too . Thus , they prepare the BlackBerry Storm . It was dubbed the “ iPhone Orcinus orca , ” which really makes us laugh out loud in hindsight . The Storm featured a touchscreen keyboard , but the whole screen would “ cluck ” down while typewrite . It was awful . Plus , the computer software ( which was n’t to begin with designed to form with a touchscreen ) was hastily slapped together and had numerous bugs and glitches . An aggressive ( an expensive ) marketing campaign had a band of people convinced , but almost everyone who bought a the Storm terminate up returning it . Once the followup got out , sales died off completely . BlackBerry attempted to redeem themselves with the Storm 2 , but it was also a misfire .
12. Sony Ericsson Experia PLAY
This was in the first place knight “ The PlayStation Phone , ” a twist that was guess to seamlessly flux a distinctive smartphone with a portable play system , like the PlayStation Vita . Unfortunately , it ended up doing neither job particularly well . This equipment , which eventually flatten the PlayStation branding from its name , have a slide - out gamepad , complete with the classical PlayStation push button .
The swelled merchandising feature was supposed to be PlayStation Mobile , an app that would take into account owners to play classic PS1 , PS2 , and PSP games . And it kind of worked . But game that utilise unexampled touchscreen technology were all the rage . There ’s a reasonAngry Birdsturned into a real franchise . The Experia PLAY ’s special hardware prevent it from being updated to Android 4.0 , and that fundamentally become the phone into an gaffer overnight .
11. Amazon Fire Phone
We ’re not sure why Amazon determine to get into the cellphone line , since the on-line retailer was already enough successful without it . Then again , they had managed to produce a few piece of tech that were in the main well - received by the public , like the Kindle E - Reader and the Fire Tablets ( the style would go on with the Amazon Firestick and the Amazon Echo ) .
However , their first ( and only ) endeavour at a cell earphone was the Amazon Fire . It gasconade five different cameras and a 3D display . But it was overlook the one affair that rightfully count . Because of competing interests between Google and Amazon , the Fire did n’t get access to the Google Play Store ( the phone ran a unique FireOS , based on Android ) . So it could n’t get the apps that people employ everyday , like Gmail or Google Maps . All the fancy gimmicks in the earthly concern were n’t exit to save the Fire if it could n’t do the unproblematic things . This blunder reportedly be Amazon over $ 170 million before they cancelled their cell phone division entirely in 2015 .
10. Nokia N-Gage
Before Apple and Samsung take away over , Nokia was take the queen among cellphone makers , although it was an geological era of “ dull ” toss - speech sound . Nokia looked around , though , and ascertain the popularity of portable gambling and music machine , like Nintendo ’s GameBoy and the original iPod , and decided they could jampack all those things into one unique machine . Thus , the Nokia N - Gage was born .
This unique - looking earphone debut in 2003 , but it never caught on . It had a unusual intent that did n’t invoke to consumers , especially as a phone . As a handheld play machine , it was as jerry-built . Without a robust library of game , the N - Gage suffer right on out of the gate . Nokia proudly claim that they has shipped over one million N - Gage devices , but they would n’t admit that 99 percent of them baby-sit in retail store rooms collecting dust . The actual number of N - Gage units sell was little in comparison .
9. Palm Pre
Unlike most of the other phones on this tilt , the Palm Pre was a genuinely much - loved twist , if only for the software program alone . Originally launch in 2009 , the Pre did n’t practice an Android build , but rather shipped with WebOS , a Linux base fluid operating system . It contained legion innovative features , like card - free-base multi - tasking , that Apple and Google would later copy in their fluid OS .
regrettably , the Pre suffer from two master drawbacks . First , without a genuine App Store of its own , it could n’t contend with the likes of Apple and Google . Secondly , and more important , the strong-arm build tone of the phone was spotty at well . There were stack of reports that the plastic casing felt cheap , and the slip mechanism would become loose and wiggly after even patrician use . In addition , there were complaint of failing power buttons and misfunction phone seafarer . The Pre could have been a splendiferous alternative for those who did n’t desire to give in to Apple or Google , but it never happen .
8. Nokia Lumia
As we antecedently mentioned with the Microsoft Kin , the companionship that once monopolized the microcomputer marketplace with its Windows operating system has frequently break down miserably when it comes to phones . The Nokia Lumia ( which was eventually rebranded the Microsoft Lumia ) was first issue in 2011 and would terminate up being the first phones to have Microsoft ’s new boxy “ Windows Mobile ” operating organisation , which was supposed to seamless translate to the Xbox One and all Windows 10 devices . You ’ve find out it , with the tiles .
The main reason this Lumia failed was their apps . Or rather , the lack of apps . Unlike the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store , the Microsoft Store was sadly empty . pop apps like Snapchat or Evernote were n’t even available . And because Microsoft and Google do n’t always get along , it was a rough-and-tumble to localize up things like Gmail or Google Drive ( No , Microsoft , I do n’t desire to practice Outlook or One Drive . cease enquire ) . And really , the tiles operating system just did n’t work very well on a smartphone , and Microsoft continues to fight in the market .
7. Project Ara/Modular Phones
think that original Phonebloks viral video ? You canwatch it here , but here are the rudiments : someone adjudicate that cellphones should be entirely modular , meaning that users can pick and choose their portion like building a microcomputer . Love to take photos ? Grab a high - goal photographic camera module . Finding that your battery does n’t last the day ? Just slap on the biggest battery module uncommitted , sacrificing the space of some feature that you do n’t habituate , like a phone jackfruit or international speaker . Play a lot of biz that take up hard drive distance ? Put in a bigger one . You get the idea .
It flummox a lot of buzz on the internet . In 2013 , Motorola ( owned by Google ) announced it was working on a modular phone purpose , subbed Project Ara . The marketing fabric push phone ingredient that could be updated or replaced simply by pulling out on block and plug in another one , like Lego brick . The idea never tear apart out , though , because the engineering does n’t work that agency . Companies like LG attempted a modular earphone with their G5 model , which feature different slide - in attachments on the bottom . No one bought it .
6. Microsoft Kin
It seems rum , really , that a company with so much success in the technical school securities industry when it comes to personal estimator ( and even the gaming market , if you reckon the various Xbox models ) has never managed to calculate out phones . We already observe the more late Windows phones make by Nokia , but long before those Microsoft unveiled the Kin in 2010 .
The Kin , with it ’s slide - out keyboard , was think to be some form of loan-blend between smartphone and dumbphone . It did n’t have apps , but came compact with the social media basics : Facebook , Twitter , and MySpace . Perhaps it would be utter for adolescent ? When it came out , the price was a lot high than most people expected . One write up take that Microsoft only sold 500 of these things before abandon the whole thing just six weeks after the merchandise plunge .
5. LG Double Play
For a while , cellular phone phone fellowship thought that people need dual screens . Perhaps they were influenced by the winner of the dual covert Nintendo handhelds , but whatever the reason , multiple company attempted to make smartphones with a 2nd projection screen crammed in there somewhere . The prominent offender , in our center , was the LG Double shimmer , which for some insane reason included a second screenin the middle of a forcible swoop out keyboard !
Not only would you have to slue this thing apart just to get to the second screen , it made type incredible frustrating . The additional computer hardware made the Double toy supererogatory bulky , with critics call off it a “ brick . ” And since screen door ( and their backlights ) are one of the biggest battery suction on any smartphone , the Double Play was depleted of power very chop-chop for even the average substance abuser . It was a bomb by any measuring rod , and tech company would ( thankfully ) abandon the threefold - screen door tendency concisely thereafter .
4. HTC First
Facebook exploded so fast into such a giant troupe , that rumors subsist that they were decease to branch off into fairly much any tech business that exist . Since Facebook was already the most popular app on jolly much any other smartphone , the societal media goliath decided to cut out the middle serviceman and produce their own phone in 2013 . Partnering with HTC , they introduce the First , a machine which was affectionately called the Facebook Phone .
The idea was that the homescreen of the phone would be overshadow by Facebook , include position updates and incoming message . In realness though , the OS was just a hack together interpretation of Android apply a Facebook skin . flex out , everyone was utterly o.k. just having Facebook be another app on their phone ( something that has become even more dominant as privacy concerns mount over digital data point and societal media use ) . The HTC First saw its price drop from $ 99 ( with contract ) down to $ 0.99 within a month , and the whole thing was scrapped a class later .
3. Asus PadFone
One of the jokes that circle the internet when Apple first announced the iPad was that it was nothing more than an oversize iPhone , without the power to make earpiece calls . Critics scoffed : who would purchase one of those things ? Well , hundreds of jillion of citizenry who buy iPads prove Apple right . Asus project that nobody needs both a tablet and a smartphone though , and unveil the PadFone , a cell phone that dock with a larger 10.1 inch tablet .
The tablet contribute - on was design to ameliorate functionality ( it included a keyboard adherence ) and battery life . In reality , though , no one desire to combine the two gimmick . You ca n’t browse Twitter and hand the tablet to your toddler if they are the same machine , for example . There ’s a intellect masses were gobbling up iPads from stores , and it was n’t because they did n’t already have a smartphone . Asus would attempt to update and improve their example , releasing a PadFone 2 , a PadPhone Infinity , and a PadPhone X. We ’ve still never seen one in the state of nature , or even in stores .
2. Motorola Rokr
In the waning days of the dumbphone era , the Motorola Razr predominate supreme . It ’s slim profile helped skyrocket it to winner . Seriously , it seemed like everyone had one of those things . Around the same time , the iPod ( along with iTunes , their digital euphony memory board ) was experiencing monumental succeeder in the mart of MP3 histrion . So , before Apple decided to get into the phone line of work themselves , they partner with Motorola to put iTunes on a phone , which would be an update version of the Razr ( that did n’t fold ) that was given the hilariously bad name of Rokr .
Steve Jobs introduced it at a big Apple conference , but even his fabled merchandising ability failed to get the Rokr off the undercoat . The software was buggy , the user interface was confusing , and the phone was limit to salt away just 100 song at a clock time . It fail miserably , but there ’s a silver liner . Apple was so jaded about their brief partnership with Motorola that they resolve to go ahead and formulate their own gadget — the eventual iPhone .
1. Samsung Galaxy Beam
Long before Samsung made exploding telephone ( we ’re kidding — only a few Galaxy Note 7 equipment caught on fire ) , they try on to sell the gadget - sleep with world on the Galaxy Beam in 2012 . It ’s big cheap gimmick was that it come with a mini projector , that would grant you to display things like pictures or games on your wall or garage door . The commercials showed people sleep together the grainy , ill lit photos that the Beam would send off onto other surface , but none of that advert ballyhoo crossed over into existent life .
The Beam was overpriced and used a version of Android that already obsolete . consumer were n’t sell on the gadget either , as most masses ’s reaction to a projector in their phone was “ when am I ever going to use that ? ” Never . The response is you ’ll never use it . So the Beam sold badly . But it was n’t enough to convince Samsung to vote out the projector earpiece altogether , though . They released a second Beam model in 2014 , but aim it squarely at the Taiwanese market , not North America .
