The L.A. Times Names Its Favorite Flops of the Year

A reader writes "Salvador Rodriguez and Deborah Netburn of The Los Angeles Times have a rundown of the top 10 tech gaffes of 2012. From their article: 'As 2012 comes to a close we take a look back at the biggest "oops" moments of the last year. Whether it was an advertising misstep (Facebook's "Chair" commercial), or a product released before it was ready (Apple Maps), or just an idea that was ill-received (homeless men as Wi-Fi hotspots), we tried to compose a list of the times when the major players lost control of the narrative. It's also a reminder that everyone makes mistakes--even exacting tech companies.'"

Re:Facebook IPO

[UnknowingFool]

Um, Apple Maps fiasco wasn't about the software. The software works fine; the data behind the software is the problem. Google maps also had issues in the beginning until they spent lots of time and money on better data. Remember the war driving scandal with Google? That was when their mapping cars were found to be collecting Wifi data in addition to simply mapping streets. Maybe Apple should have relied on Google map data for another year (as they still had a year left on their contract) but the software was fine.

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Re:Facebook IPO

[sottitron]

I think that people keep forgetting that Google Maps on the iPhone does turn-by-turn driving directions now. I think this is the #1 reason Apple put their maps on the iPhone. Google wasn't going to put turn by turn directions on the iPhone if they weren't prodded.

Re:Facebook IPO

[iserlohn]

By all accounts, Google was not *allowed* by Apple to release a version of Google Maps that was Google branded. Google was willing to compromise by offering a non-branded version that collected more information from iOS users than Apple would like to allow. That was the impasse that led Apple's ill fated venture into GIS.

Missing -- Knight

[istartedi]

They should have Knight Capital [wikipedia.org] on the list. They probably thought it belonged in the finance category as opposed to tech; but it was a tech problem. They also could have put HFT in general on the list, of which Knight is just one example.

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