Tech is a brutal world, in which even the most successful products are supplanted by newer versions and quickly become obsolete. And in their search for that one successful product, tech companies are filling product graveyards with failed concepts: some genuinely terrible, but some just unlucky. We take a look at five that potentially deserved better.


So why include Google Glass? Well, it wasn’t a total waste of time. Google Glass has found an admittedly niche market as a tool for people working in factories and warehouses, who need to be able to access information while keeping their hands free. Google’s mistake was targeting general consumers far too early, and there may yet be more specialised applications for this technology to come. Just look at how virtual reality headsets are slowly gaining ground in gaming. Maybe the augmented reality of smart glasses will have its day yet.
Google Glass might be down and out, but another wearable device, the smart watch, has had much more success. Look under Smart Watches on Back Market and grab yourself a refurbished bargain with a minimum year’s warranty!
3. HD DVD

You’ve heard of the videotape format war. Now how about the high-definition optical disc format war? It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue like its precursor, but it was a similarly bitterly fought stand-off: a Betamax vs VHS for millennials. In this edition, HD DVD lost out to Blu-Ray, which you might remember from the time before streaming services (which already feels like an entirely different age).
There wasn’t much difference between the two in terms of quality: this battle of attrition came down to alliances, with each side amassing a litany of companies and film studios behind them. Big players like Warner Bros and Blockbuster shifted the odds in Blu-Ray’s favour and the PlayStation 3’s inclusion of a Blu-Ray player was the final blow for HD DVD.
To the victor go the spoils: Back Market has refurbished Blu-Ray players for sale at a fraction of their original value. There’s never been a better time to build that lasting physical film collection.
4. Vine

Vine was a video hosting app that restricted users to 6 seconds – a feature which, like Twitter with its character limit, got people thinking creatively and striving to do more with less. These short, looping videos, featuring either cleverly edited vignettes or just silly moments from around the world, often went viral, and the app became known as a hotbed of meme creation.
Bought by Twitter in 2013, it was closed down three years later as it lost out to the dominance of popular video- and photo-sharing apps like Snapchat and Instagram. But with similar apps like TikTok now making a splash, embodying the same short-but-sweet ethos of Vine, perhaps it should have stuck around.
Vine is dead, long live TikTok! Back Market has a massive range of refurbished smartphones with huge discounts, perfect for unleashing your creative video skills.
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