New isn't always better.
If history is any indication, investing millions of dollars in apparently brilliant ideas for new products or services is no guarantee of success. Some instructive examples for anyone eager to ride technology's next wave:-Talking cars. "The door is ajar." "Your key is in the ignition." Most of us get enough nagging without computer-generated lectures from our automobiles. Nissan introduced talking cars with the 1981 Maxima, and it was followed by other automakers, including Toyota and Chrysler.
Similar "talking" features were tried on alarm clocks and microwave ovens. The public quickly rebelled, demanding peace and quiet. By 1988, cars were once again mute.
-Quadraphonic sound. If two stereo speakers sound better than one monaural speaker, then wouldn't a four-speaker system sound better than stereo? Yes, but consumers in the early 1970s couldn't be persuaded to junk their stereos for quadraphonic systems.
The problems included conflicting standards from several manufacturers and recordings that overused the quadraphonic effect to assault listeners with sounds that seemed to be scattered all over the room. Quad, officially introduced in 1969, died by 1975.
The concept is now being revived, however, with multiple-speaker "surround sound" systems that are part of the trend toward "home theaters" for television and music.
-PCjr. Computers are meant for work, not play. IBM learned that lesson with its PCjr home computer, first offered in late 1983 and withdrawn from the market in early 1985.
PCjr, priced as low as $669, turned off serious computer users because of its limited processing capacity and awkward keyboard with tiny rubber keys that resembled pieces of Chiclets chewing gum. Neophytes didn't see any reason to learn how to use a home computer - a problem plaguingcomputer makers to this day.
-3-D movies. "A lion in your lap!" That's how Hollywood introduced three-dimensional movies with the forgettable 1952 jungle epic "Bwana Devil."
Moviegoers, although enchanted by the Vincent Price horror film "House of Wax," complained of headaches and eyestrain from the special 3-D glasses.
Hollywood dropped 3-D so fast that two of the best movies of 1954 - the musical "Kiss Me Kate" and Alfred Hitchcock's "Dial M for Murder" - were made in 3-D but shown to the public only in the regular two-dimensional format.
-AM stereo. In 1982, free-market Reagan-era appointees at the Federal Communications Commission decided to let radio manufacturers and station owners duke it out in selecting among five competing formats for AM stereo. Broadcasters desperately wanted AM stereo to lure listeners back from the superior signal on FM.
But the lack of federal direction proved disastrous. Station owners wouldn't buy AM stereo broadcasting equipment for fear of picking the wrong standard; radio manufacturers held back for the same reason. The result: Only 11 percent of the nation's 6,000 AM stations now broadcast in stereo.