Tech Demises of 2017 !

Hello friends and followers , 2017 is on the verge of ending and we are here to bid farewell to the technologies that died in 2017. The circle of life is not just limited to living things , it has the same impact over technology and so every year brings a wave of old products and failed ideas that make way for newer and better ones. This year we lost some once-iconic technology which lost their impact long ago along with some junk that shouldn’t have existed in the first place.

In 2017 , many Microsoft products met their blue screen of death. Apple also joined the list as they pulled the plug on the couples of iPods, slammed the door at their iconic iPod Shuffle and iPod Nano. Some junk technologies like Juicero also met their destiny that just needed to die. Good dumping.

For all we lost there were some technologies that returned from the dead : Teddy Ruxpin, Polaroid, Aibo.

As another year comes to a close so do many technology concepts, products and services. 

Let’s take a look at all the technologies that weren’t able to make it this year .

#1 Groove Music

Microsoft ,the tech behemoth marked the demise of Groove Music by the end of the year. Microsoft made an attempt to rival music streaming services from Apple and Google. But the service never made it and company finally held the hand of its rival Spotify to provide the streaming service. Groove music faded from existence and the subscribers were encouraged to migrate to Spotify.

#2 Windows Phone

This year , July 11 Microsoft announced that it is halting the support for the Windows Phone 8.1. The demise of Windows Phone was due to losses that the company faced and a low volume of users. However Microsoft announced that they will continue the support existing products with security updates and timely bug fixes .It is worth mentioning that Windows Phone was a glorious failure.

#3 Google Spaces

On May 16, 2016 Google announced Google Spaces , app for group discussion and messaging . The app was meant to compete with Slack but unfortunately Google shut down its group messaging app on April 17 this year. Spaces allowed its users to discuss and share their thoughts over a specific topic and also gave the functionality of inviting other people to join the conversation, which made it look like a forum app. However at the same moment Google was also working over its AI – powered messaging app Allo, which could also be the reason for shutting down Spaces. It seems like Google have learnt a lot from the Spaces.

#4 Kinect

Microsoft ,pulled the plug on Kinect back in October. Kinect was a depth sensing motion camera for Xbox 360 and Xbox One gaming consoles and Windows PCs. Kinect is webcam styled peripheral that enables its users to interact with their console or computer without any game controller or physical peripheral, through natural user interface that is through gestures and commands. The demise of Kinect was inevitable as Microsoft shifted their focus to other VR based mixed reality based devices like Hololens.

#5 Jawbone

According to a report from The Information, the tech company that produced Bluetooth earpieces and wireless speakers before betting everything on fitness tracking has entered into liquidation proceedings. Jawbone sold wireless products before betting it’s future on fitness trackers. The cpmpany manufactured UP series fitness trackers but they failed to seek the market’s attention and ended up in financial crunch. The company liquidated it’s assets after it entered into a legal fight with its competitor Fitbit.

#6 Windows Vista

Microsoft bade farewell to Windows Vista on April 11 after completing a life span of 10 years.
The operating system followed the most successful version of Windows of all time , Windows XP.

#7 Juicero 

Remember Juicero ? , the $400 WiFi conneted Juicer. It made cold pressed juice using its own proprietary “Produce Packs” and couldn't work with anything else. It felt the squeeze when Bloomberg made it clear that you could just bypass the over-priced junk by hard squeezing the juice bags into a glass.

#8 AOL Instant Messenger

Looks like October is inked with most number of loses made this year.In October AOL Instant Messenger’s parent company Oath announced that it is going to discontinue the service, The AIM shut down on 15 December . It was the loss that stings the most. AIM defined what a shot was for an entire generation and was core to many people’s first social experience on the Internet but many turned their back to the buddy list when Social Media and Sm made AIM irrelevant. AIM was released almost 20 years ago and was one the most popular messaging service in late 90’s. AIM became obsolete with the arrival of messaging apps like WhatsApp, Messenger etc.

#9 iPod Shuffle and iPod Nano 

After 12 years the last of the traditional iPods that lacked internet connectivity, iPod Shuffle and iPod Nano have been discontinued this year. The first iPod Nano was introduced in 2005 and it rplaced the iPod mini. The iPod Shuffle was also relaeased in 2005 and this was a new take over the traditional iPods as it had no screen and was very small and portable and had no user interface, just few buttons to bring out the playback functionality. Now the iPod Shuffle and iPod Nano are officially done. Apple removed both the iPods from its online stores and websites worldwide this year indicating that only the updated iPod Touch will now be available for purchase.

#10 Virtu Mobiles 

Plenty of luxury techs also lost the shine.The premium smartphone maker Vertu shut down in July this year. The company was founded by Nokia in 1998 with the mission of selling luxury smartphones. Virtu made crazy expensive cell phones made of gold and snakeskin but company went bully-up and my condolences who bought Virtu overpriced cell phones.

#11 Chrome app Store 

Last year , around August Google announced that they would be shutting down the App section of the Google Web Store and they kept their promise and shut down the Apps section of the Chrome Web store from the Window, Mac and Linux version of the Chrome but not the Chrome OS version.

Google killed the service as it didn’t observe many active users for it and said “Approximately 1 percent of users on Windows, Mac and Linux actively use Chrome packaged apps”. With the shut down of chrome apps Google is working to bring out the Progressive Web Apps to desktop. PWA is seemed to provide apps like features to websites. The functionality comprehends full screen interface, an installable app icon, push notifications and some offline capabilities. Google says it is "roughly targeting mid-2018" for PWA desktop apps.

#12 Google Talk 

Google Talk , the instant messaging service that provided both text and voice communication shut down in June , this year after a long 12 year run. Although Google had been encouraging its users to migrate to more modern Hangouts.

#13 Project Tango

Google announced the Project Tango back in 2014 and developed by Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects(ATAP) team, Project Tango is Google’s attempt to get mobile phones and tablets to see the way we see. Tango was Google’s early attempt to bring Augmented Reality to smartphones. In late August Google introduced  a new Augmented Reality System known as ARCore. It just brought that system to the Pixel and Pixel 2 in the form of some Augmented Reality Stickers, immediately opening AR features to more people than Tango is likely to have reached in its lifetime. On December 15 Google announced the demise of its ambitious project. Currently there are only 2 devices which support Project Tango: Lenovo Phab2 Pro and Asus Zenfone AR. Google will finally end its support on March 31, 2018.