There are many exciting products this year that achieved high sales. But on the opposite spectrum, there are also many disappointing products. Here is a list of the 10 most disappointing products launched throughout 2024. Hopefully, this year's disappointment will be a springboard for better products to be produced.
1. Implementation of MyDigital ID and PADU
We are not the ones who said MyDigital ID was disappointing, but the Prime Minister himself said it a few weeks ago. The country's online digital identification system has been planned since 2019 but its implementation has been slow. The first effort to integrate MyDigital ID in the MyJPJ application received resistance from users until the old login system was reactivated. Then the report that it needs to be renewed every year also received negative reactions from the public.
Next, the response to PADU was also less than encouraging with only around 10.61 million Malaysians who have registered. PADU has not succeeded in conveying the message why registration is good for the country and will help those who register. The narrative of scaring users with data leaks has been left without any serious action.
When users reported problems registering, the assistance provided was not very satisfactory. All of these issues led to PADU being perceived as a failed project this year.
2. Humane AI Pin
In order to follow the hot trend of artificial intelligence (AI) last year, several startups offered autonomous AI devices to the market. The Humane AI Pin is the device that received the most attention because it was developed by two former Apple employees involved in the development of the iPhone, iPad and MacBook. The device was announced at the end of 2023 with sales starting in April this year.
Initial reviews of the AI Pin received negative criticism from technology influencers such as MKBHD such as unresponsive software, the projector system not bright enough for outdoor use and the battery life was too short. Issues of overheating and chargers that could cause fires caused the fate of the AI Pin to get even darker.
Humane then tried to be sold to HP for $1 billion but this did not happen. As of June, only 10,000 AI Pins had been sold, far below the target of 100,000 units sold in the first year.
3. Google Pixel 9 Series
The eight-year wait for Google Pixel to enter the Malaysian market officially ended this year with the Pixel 9 series. Due to the long wait, expectations were high for Malaysian users after hearing rave reviews from overseas users. Post-launch, we were disappointed with the Pixel 9 series because its high selling price was not in line with the performance of the Tensor G4 processor chip which was only comparable to mid-range devices.
The Malaysian market is filled with many flagship and premium mid-range devices from China that offer better value than the Pixel 9. This is different from the United States, where the Pixel 9 is still competitive due to the lack of competitors in the Android world. It is difficult to say that the wait for the Pixel 9 was worth it because the device offered did not meet high expectations.
4. Apple Vision Pro
When the Apple Vision Pro went on sale earlier this year, expectations were high among technology enthusiasts because Apple usually offers products that can meet consumer demand. Initial sales of the device were very encouraging but then began to slow down due to the lack of truly useful features.
Early owners complained that the Vision Pro was too heavy to be comfortable to use for long periods of time. For those who wear glasses, the adapters offered are sold at a high price. The Vision Pro's selling price is also too premium for many users to own compared to the Meta Quest 3. It is now the end of 2024 and Apple still does not have a killer app that makes the Vision Pro worth buying.
Only time will tell whether the Vision Pro will follow the fate of the Apple Watch, which took several years to dominate the market, or the fate of the AirPods Max, which were only updated with USB-C even though it was launched several years ago.
5. Huawei Mate XT
The Huawei Mate XT was launched as the world's first tri-fold screen phone in September. Through this configuration, the device can be used in three different screen sizes, namely 6.4″, 7.9″ or 10.2″, which makes it more worthy of being called a foldable tablet. Its selling price in China reaches RM12,000 each. At a price tag like this, buyers should definitely be promised a premium user experience.
But reports emerged in China that the device suffered screen damage on the first day of purchase. The OLED screen used is not very durable. The cost of repairing the screen is more than RM4000 per piece. This may be the reason why Huawei's innovation has not yet dared to be followed by other manufacturers of foldable screen phones. Just like Samsung, which pioneered the foldable screen technology, Huawei now realizes that being the "first" is not very profitable when the product released is problematic.
6.Windows Recall
Windows Recall was originally the most interesting feature for Copilot+ PC this year. It will help users remember important information by taking screenshots periodically. Before its launch in the middle of the year, security analysts found various serious privacy risks. Screenshots are not encrypted and can be accessed by hackers if the system is compromised.
The launch has been delayed several times and it will now undergo several more rounds of Beta testing. It is now not enabled by default and PC owners are given the option to remove it directly if they are still worried about the security of personal data. Overall for 2024 there are many AI features that are said to be helpful to users but then do not meet the actual needs of users.
7. Malaysian NFT Ecosystem
The NFT ecosystem in Malaysia which was in a serious state last year can be categorized as having died with the closure of Pentas.IO. As the main local NFT trading platform, it became the most expensive NFT platform in Malaysia for sale, namely Rusuk Emas in 2021. Now all the digital asset collections of users are no longer accessible. We realized that it was inaccessible in July with the site operator saying that they would be back in October.
It was then temporarily accessible for the Digital Asset Onboarding fund handover which was done in collaboration with MDEC. After that, Pentas.IO then ceased operations in November. At the time of writing, the front page of Pentas was accessible but the NFT trading platform was still inaccessible.
8. AI Built into Devices
There are several small language models (SLM) such as Gemini Nano launched this year which were developed to run directly on smartphones and laptops. But the reality is that this artificial intelligence (AI) still needs the internet to operate because service providers want to make sure it doesn’t violate terms and conditions of use. The images it wants to generate will be blocked if they contain certain terms in the promo. AI that rewrites user-written phrases will also stop operating if it detects the use of foul language.
Two years ago we were promised AI on faster devices, and that don’t need the internet. This year there are many AI systems that can be used but they all take a long time to provide answers. It reminds us of the era of searching the web using AltaVista and modern 56K internet connections. Current AI technology is still too slow to be truly useful.
9. Concord
Concord is an online video game that was developed at a cost of $400 million. It was launched on August 23, 2024 but then the game browser was shut down after just two weeks. This makes it another game that cost a lot of money but failed to gain popularity in the same line as Anthem, Artifact, and Babylon’s Fall.
The closure of the video game browser was followed by the closure of Firewalk Studios, which developed the game, in October. Firewalk Studios is just one of several studios that have closed this year due to poor video game sales.
10. Google AI Overview
AI Overview was launched in mid-May as a feature that would provide summaries of searches made on Google Search. But the feature that was supposed to help people became the subject of internet jokes after the answers they provided were absurd, wrong, and even life-threatening. This happened because data from Reddit was used as a source for answers even though they were just sarcastic jokes.
Google has blocked AI Overview from providing answers for certain topics to prevent this embarrassing incident from happening again. But it still happens, albeit at a lower frequency. The bigger issue is that AI Overview steals website traffic that is used to train Google's artificial intelligence models.