Even 12 years after it’s initial release, Apple’s only attempt at a video game console is still serving as a slight embarrassment to the company. On Friday, Gamepro ran it’s list of the “Top 10 Worst Selling Consoles of All Time”. I’m actually sad to say that I owned (or still own) 4 of these consoles. The list includes the Atari Jaguar, the Turbo Graphix 16, the Virtual Boy, and more – but at the Top of the list is Apple’s Pippin.
For those of you that don’t know, the Pippin was a joint project between Apple and Bandai (it was never Apple’s intention to release the product on it’s own, but to partner with other companies…Bandai was the only one that bit). Underpowered and overpriced (the device launched at $599), the Pippin died a swift death, and quickly made it’s way into the history books as one of the worst products Apple has ever produced.
In fact, PC World went on to name it the Worst Tech Product of All Time recently.
Ouch. That’s harsh.
4 thoughts on “Apple’s Pippin named Worst Selling Console of All Time”
Someone from Apple brought one to our Santa Cruz, CA Users group. What an ill-concieved piece of junk! What were they thinking? That was the pre Jobs and Ive days! Apple was a really screwed up outfit then!
Yes, Pippin was a bad idea. Was it really the worst selling console of all time? Maybe.
But, I’ve gotta say, that Game Pro article is probably the worst-written/edited article I’ve read in weeks. The little spiels aren’t particularly fact-intensive, and the facts they do have are often incorrect. Even a little cursory background reading about video game history would have revealed this to the writer. But the editor should be shot for allowing that article to escape in that condition.
The condition I refer to, of course, is that the grammar is astoundingly poor. Poor grammar, used sparingly, can serve great writing. Poor grammar in services of poor writing? Ouch.
Only problem is the pippin isn’t the worst selling console of all time. It’s the Amstrad GX4000 which sold only 14,000 units and lasted less than six months.