Not all tech products succeed once on the market, and some are killed off with little warning. Flashback looks back at failed tech products to see what we can learn by studying their demises.

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    #4: webOS

    March 26th, 2020 · 73 minutes

    With its webOS hardware, including the Pre, Pixi and more, Palm (and later HP) tried to take on the giants of the early smartphone wars. While webOS was hugely innovative, it wasn't enough to break into the most important market in consumer electronics.

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    Links and Show Notes

    GEOS (16-bit operating system) - Wikipedia
    Graffiti (Palm OS) - Wikipedia
    Zoomer-List Archives: Graffiti Arrives!
    Palm OS - Wikipedia
    Apple Reinvents the Phone with iPhone - Apple
    Dear Palm: It's time for an intervention | Engadget
    Palm Pre CES Press Event - YouTube
    What happened to the original iPhone’s plastic screen? - The Verge
    Stephen's Thumb on the Pre Keyboard
    Palm Pre review, part 1: Hardware, webOS, user interface | Engadget
    Palm Pre review, part 2: Synergy, phone, media, applications | Engadget
    Palm Pre review, part 3: Data speeds, backup, battery, Bluetooth, pricing, wrap-up | Engadget
    Palm Pre Teardown - iFixit
    Palm Touchstone Charger Teardown - iFixit
    Palm Pre Admaker Defends "Creepy" TV Commercial | WIRED
    Palm Pre Commercial Ad Going With The Flow Tamara Hope - YouTube
    Meta-tap (Gesture Area + tap) and Copy/Paste | webOS Nation
    Daring Fireball: Apple Announces Web Apps for iPhone
    HP TouchPad coming June, webOS for PC beta by year's end | Engadget
    Palm Pixi review | Engadget
    Palm Pre Plus (and Pixi Plus) review | Engadget
    webOS 1.4 Lands on Verizon
    Review: Verizon Palm Pre 2 | webOS Nation
    Quinn's Zune Video
    Palm Pre 3 Demonstration - YouTube
    Pre 3 for AT&T review | Engadget
    HP Veer 4G review | Engadget
    The Long-Lived iPad 2 - MacStories
    HP TouchPad review | Engadget
    Quinn Nelson on Instagram: “Everyone (especially HP), blatantly copies Apple's packaging. ”
    The HP TouchPad 1.0 – Shawn Blanc
    HP TouchPad: The final $99 offer - CNET
    How I got a $99 HP TouchPad tablet and why I bought it - The Washington Post
    Quinn Nelson on Instagram: “I'm pretty sure I got the only one left in my city.”
    Quinn Nelson on Instagram: “Installing Android on my TouchPad. :D”
    Quinn Nelson on Instagram: “Hai there Android. :)”
    Quinn Nelson on Instagram: “ICS on the TouchPad? Love it!”
    Palm puts itself up for sale | Engadget
    Hewlett-Packard Agrees to Buy Palm - The New York Times
    Editorial: Engadget on the death of HP's webOS devices | Engadget
    The lost secrets of webOS | The Verge
    LG Smart TV w/ webOS
    A failed experiment: How LG screwed up its webOS acquisition – Gigaom
    LG’s Linux-based webOS Goes Open Source, Again! - It's FOSS
    The new Palm is a tiny phone to keep you away from your phone - The Verge