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From AirPower to abandoned tablets, Apple’s road to success is littered with failures
Apple hasscrapped plan to enter the automotive industrywith itsmysterious self-reliant electrical railway car , insteadshifting focus to the wildly democratic macrocosm of generative AI . The project ascertain the company hire large executive from places like Tesla and Ford . Its end has led to chore personnel casualty for some employee , while others have commute part inside the party .
The so - called Project Titanhad reportedly been in the works since 2014 . It could have proven firm competitor for Tesla and others , given Apple ’s story of disrupting various market place . The company did it with the iPod , iPhone , Apple Watchand , most lately , with itsAirPods(the jury is still out onVision Pro ) .
But not every project has been a rousing success for the troupe . Prior to Project Titan , there have been several Apple efforts that break to see the visible radiation of day . Here are some of the more famed example of Apple project that did n’t hit the market .
The Apple Car that never was : A timeline
AirPower
Not every exemplar is from the distant yesteryear . The radio bill mat , which Applefirst announcedin 2017 , was expected to use the Qi standard to charge up to three gimmick at a time . However , the companycanceled the project in 2019 , citing failure to achieve its “ high criterion . ” Apple put back the AirPower with its folding travel chargerMagSafe Duoin 2020 . But unlike the AirPower mat , MagSafe Duo only supports cooccurring charging of up to two gimmick : the iPhone and the Apple Watch or iPod .
Television
Apple ’s television ( not to be fox withApple TV ) is another example of a long - rumored labor that failed to materialize . Analystsandinvestorsanticipated the arrival of a full - fledged ultra - high - definition TV set from the party back in 2011 . Like Project Titan , Apple never publically disclosed its universe before it was reportedly scrap years back .
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Vademecum
Apple prototyped an early tablet more than a 10 and a half prior to launching the first iPad . In 1994 , some other effigy of the labor surface online , suggesting it was explore the improver of a stylus and built - in photographic camera . However , as former Apple executive Dan Russelldiscussedin a 2018 web log post , the company killed the project as there was “ no market for a lozenge computing machine ” at the time .
MessageSlate
The Vademecum was n’t Apple ’s only failed attack to project a table . At roughly the same time , the company was also influence on a Newton OS - based labor holler MessageSlate ( codenamed Senior ) . A trademark app for the twist appear in 1993 . However , Apple scrap it and deliveredMessagePad , a smaller version of the MessageSlate prototype , later in the year .
W.A.L.T.
Well before the iPhone , Appletested a “ telephony Mac”codenamed W.A.L.T. It appear to have a touchscreen panel with stylus support and included features such as fax and caller-out ID . Some early units of W.A.L.T. even rise up on eBay for auction . However , Apple never discussed the equipment in public .
PenLite
In 1992 , Apple was acquire anothertablet . PenLite seem to be based on System 7.1 — the first version of Apple ’s Macintosh operating organisation design for PowerPC - based computers . Reports suggested that it would have a stylus and a 25MHz Motorola processor . Unlike the Vademecum , the PenLite was reportedly in development with no television camera . Apple finally scrap that projection , too . Much like the later gimmick , the company determined that the market simply was n’t quick .
