8 Biggest Tech Disappointments Of 2014
From Uber's dirty tactics to Silicon Valley's lack of diversity, look back at the year's biggest letdowns.
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Another year in tech, another year of wonder and blunder.
On the wonder side, we saw Alibaba's $150 billion IPO, the biggest in the history of the New York Stock Exchange. For sheer human compassion, we saw 17 million Facebook users take part in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and raise over $100 million to fight a terrible disease.
In the enterprise, we saw businesses large and small use Internet of Things (IoT) devices and data analytics tools to make smarter business decisions based on data that's visual and mobile.
But enough about wonderful things. Let's talk blunderful.
Sorry to be the half-glass-empty type, but there were enough misdemeanors and troubling trends in tech to keep us skeptical throughout 2014.
Individual states like Oregon and Minnesota set themselves apart from Healthcare.gov but failed to build competent state-run online health insurance exchanges, resulting in nasty finger-pointing with vendors and even lawsuits (the state of Oregon and Oracle will not be collaborating again anytime soon).
If you thought corporations were getting better at securing credit card and other customer data, then 2014 was not your year. Home Depot's data breach eclipsed the late-2013 Target hack -- which we all thought was uneclipsable as we headed into 2014. This year is closing with a much more malevolent hack at Sony Pictures credited to North Korea that came loaded with threats of mass violence and is now reigniting heated relations between the US and North Korea. Yikes.
On a lighter note, the Fire Phone, Amazon's gimmicky attempt to enter the smartphone market, was much-maligned and proved it's never wise to take the iPhone and Android for granted. Smartwatches released by Samsung, Motorola, and LG hardly inspired consumers. The smartwatch form factor has been on the verge of mainstream use for a while, but 2014 was not the year. Will the Apple Watch be the catalyst in 2015?
On the app side of mobile, a little ridesharing company called Uber stirred up trouble this year. A few offenses: Devious ploys to trip up competitor Lyft, assault allegations against drivers, and Uber bans in major cities and countries. Yet Uber couldn't be a more popular and thriving business. Nevertheless, its ruthless ambition needs a heavy dose of maturity in 2015.
They say the biggest room in the house is the room for improvement. Though the following things were letdowns this year, all are capable of recovery and redemption (except maybe the Fire Phone). Read on to see if you agree.
Amazon's Fire Phone was instantly razzed for being a smartphone disguised as an Amazon store rather than a viable iPhone competitor. Negative reviews citing low battery life, a gimmicky user interface, a premium price, and limited availability (AT&T only) kept consumers away. Price cuts followed. By September, the subsidized price with a two-year AT&T contract went from $199 to 99 cents, and more recently off-contract phones dropped from $649 to $449. Amazon also offered an unlocked phone in November to be used with any GSM carrier for $199 as a promo price, but that price is now at $449. Whatever the pricing scheme, Amazon has found itself sitting on $83 million worth of unsold Fire Phones. The lesson: Don't EVER take the smartphone market lightly.
In 2014, we loved to hate Uber. Here's why:
-- Hired contractors to actively recruit Lyft drivers with incentives like iPhones and cash. Uber contractors also accused of requesting and cancelling Lyft rides to slow operations.
-- Faced media scrutiny when a senior executive suggested hiring researchers to dig up dirt on journalists who've written unfavorably about the company.
-- Has been banned in New Delhi, India, after an Uber driver allegedly raped a woman. Has also been banned in Thailand and Spain, and continues to operate in cities where it's been warned to stop.
PR disasters aside, Uber was recently valued at a whopping $40 billion. Convenience is a powerful thing. But you can't play dirty pool forever, so expect the ridesharing bully to grow up in 2015.
Last year ended on a dark note with the Target data breach, but in 2014 more data breaches at Home Depot and JPMorgan Chase reminded us we still can't secure customer information. But the recent hack of internal data at Sony Pictures -- which the FBI believes was sponsored by North Korea -- is what security experts will remember most this year. The cyber attack is tied to the release of The Interview, a movie comedy about an assassination attempt against Kim Jong Un. With its threats of terrorism and violence, the Sony hack is much more disturbing than any credit card heist.
Google's computer-screen-on-your-face has enjoyed successful rollouts at hospitals and manufacturing plants, but among consumers it's stoking privacy fears and class conflicts. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Google Glass has pitted uber-wealthy techies against non-techies. Glass will benefit from being better understood (it's not recording you all the time!). But for now, Google Glass is a symbol of socio-economic tension. Add in a $1,500 price and the ease with which a thief could snag Glass from your face, and there's not much going for it as a consumer product, despite the buzz.
HealthCare.gov's unveiling in the fall of 2013 was an epic blunder. The site's performance improved in 2014, but that bad karma spilled over into state health insurance exchanges. Oregon, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Maryland -- states that chose to run their own sites rather than rely on HealthCare.gov -- all had substantial problems with underperforming online exchanges.
Oregon sued and was sued by Oracle over its "Cover Oregon" site, and the state never managed to launch its own independent exchange, delegating all consumer-facing functions to HealthCare.gov. Additionally, Minnesota clashed hard with IBM over the implementation of the state's MNsure site.
Rolling out state health insurance exchanges isn't supposed to be easy, but it's disappointing how hard it really was in 2014.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella inserted foot in mouth when he suggested women should not ask for raises and just trust that the system will reward them. "That's good karma," he added. This was a timelessly dumb thing to say, but particularly ill-timed given recent reports of Silicon Valley's lack of gender diversity, not to mention that Microsoft was laying off 18,000 workers.
Nadella apologized sincerely for his remarks, but this was disappointing coming from someone who seems thoughtful and fair-minded. Chalk it up to a regrettable gaffe from a new CEO.
This was the year we were supposed to wear smartwatches. But high-profile releases from Samsung (Galaxy Gear and Gear 2), Motorola (Moto 360), and LG (G Watch) failed to connect, hampered by complaints of clunky hardware, half-baked UIs, and lame battery life. Everyone's hoping the Apple Watch release this spring will -- like the iPhone before it -- stir up consumer desire for a new product category and raise everyone's game. Time will tell.
What we always suspected was made public in 2014: Most Silicon Valley employees are white or Asian men.
Google published that women represent just 17% of its workforce, with 21% of leadership roles held by women. Sixty-one percent of jobs at Google are held by white people, 30% by Asians. Yahoo and LinkedIn have similar percentages.
Google vowed in a blog post to improve worker diversity.
The good news here is that these companies made their diversity numbers public and that there are methods -- some laid out in a New York Times editorial -- that can help improve the balance in 2015.
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