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Every so often, a new product, idea, app, etc. hits the market and people laud it as The Next Big Thing.™ Sometimes they're right! Like the Internet? Mama really popped off with that one. Or iPhones? Literally took over the GD world! But not every NBT is able to stick the landing, and often they end up fading into obscurity forever. Reddit user ItzSweeney recently asked, "What was supposed to take off but never did?" and the responses brought to mind many a bygone product. I was like, "Ohhhh yeahhhhh! I forgot about that!" and, "Wait, maybe we should bring this one back." Here's what people had to say: 1. "Google+. It was the perfect time for a new social media platform since Facebook was waning in functionality. But Google decided to hold the line like it was some kind of exclusive club. Nobody got in, so nobody wanted to participate. Down it went." 2. "Quibi. Short-form content on an app made for phones. It could be viewed vertically or horizontally, had eight-minute episodes, and featured huge stars in its content. It sold out of advertising space before it even premiered...in April 2020. People were stuck at home with plenty of time, watching long-form content. It folded shortly after launch." 3. "To this day, I still don't understand what NFTs even are or how they even work. And I don't care to find out." 4. "3D TVs were marketed everywhere, but I didn't know a single person who owned one." 5. "Segway has to win the award for most overhyped flop in tech history. They talked about this thing with some ridiculous hyperbole. It was going to 'change the way we design cities.' I'm not even kidding. When they revealed it, the public let out a collective, 'That’s it?'" 6. "Coca-Cola Clear." 7. "The 2020s were a really exciting thought. I remember midnight on New Year's Eve and being so, so excited, making all these plans. January and February that year were epic, so was early March. And then COVID pulled the plug out of life, and it's never been quite the same." 8. "Sega Dreamcast. It was a BEAUTIFUL SYSTEM that deserved better." 9. "The Metaverse. Zuckerberg invested wild amounts of money to try and make it a thing, but it was a complete flop." 10. "Juicero — the juice machine that did nothing besides squeeze a pouch of juice into a glass. So many extra steps and so much extra cost compared to just pouring the juice out yourself. Wild work." 11. "Working from home as a permanent thing. :/ We were sooo close." 12. "LaserDisc for movies, MiniDisc for music. I only knew like one or two people who had either one." 13. "Curved TVs. Kinda crappy for anyone not sitting dead center to the screen." 14. "I remember hearing that millennials were supposed to be the greatest spending generation. Too bad they forgot to pay us." 15. "Microsoft Windows phones. I remember selling these and having to carry one for a while for work. The hardware was great, and the interface was nice, too, but the lack of apps (especially social media/dating/shopping/and other free stuff ubiquitous to Apple/Android phones) made it a no-go for most people." 16. "Hoverboards that don't catch fire." 17. "Remember those kneeling chairs that were supposed to be better for you than regular sitting?" 18. "The space-based solar power stations that were conceptualized in the 1970s. During the oil shortage, the US conceived massive solar satellites that would collect gigawatts of power and then beam it down to the ground. There was also the Star Raker spaceplane that would be used to carry the components to orbit. But the concepts were never put into practice." 19. "Google glasses — boy, did I want a pair in the 15 minutes they were trendy!" 20. "Cryptocurrencies. Don't get me wrong, the prices exploded for whatever reason, but nobody actually USES it for buying anything. I remember in 2017 when we all talked about how shops were going to allow customers to use private money like crypto. But even the few shops that supported it eventually stopped because the public wasn't interested in using it." 21. And finally, "Fetch. Stop trying to make fetch happen!" Do you remember anything that was supposed to be the "next big thing?" Let me know in the comments (or the anonymous form)! Your response may be featured in an upcoming BuzzFeed article!
