1) Matatu Cashless Payment System: Of-course this had to make the round-up. Kenyan authorities tried to ensure that we have a cashless payment system, the deadline of which was postponed several times. Maybe next year the Kenyan government & stakeholders will have better luck.
2) Facebook Paper: Facebook Paper was a flop. Though it was suppose to reinvent Facebook as a new-age reading app, it quickly tumbled down the leaderboard at the Apple App Store. But whatever the fate of Paper, the tools used to build the thing represent the future of software design and development.
3) Bitcoin: It’s fair to say Bitcoin had a bad 2014. In fact, its plunge in value makes it the worst performing currency over the past year. According to Bloomberg, the value of Bitcoin dropped a massive 56 percent during 2014, falling from around $770 at the start of the year to around $320 at the time of writing.This means Bitcoin has performed worse than the Ukrainian Hryvnia, the Russian Ruble, the Ghanaian Cedi, and the Argentine Peso. Which is all a far cry from 2013, when Bitcoin peaked at a value of $1,130. Ironically, this drop in value has coincided with Bitcoin being accepted by an increasing number of companies and services.
4) Tablet sales: despite a growth of 7.2 % in tablet sales in 2014, this was a failure as the tablet market grew by 52.5 percent from 2012 to 2013. Reasons for the disastrous plummet being phablets (big screen mobile phones) which can do almost anything tablets can do.
5) Sony Playstation TV: The game experience was poor, just like the PS Vita graphics were blurry and crappy on a big-screen TV. The PlayStation TV didn’t even support 1080p resolution, which doesn’t sound very future-proof. Even at a wallet-friendly $99, the Sony Playstation TV was an epic fail.
6) Google Glass: 2014 was supposed to be the year that Google Glass went mass market, but last time I checked I didn’t see anyone wearing one anywhere. Google has apparently delayed the launch of Glass to consumers and has shifted gears in the meantime to focus on businesses with its Glass at Work program. The move makes sense. You’re less likely to be called a Glasshole if you’re using it to call up schematics of a building than wearing the geeky specs to the mall.
It’s possible that Glass could see a resurgence in 2015, but given that key employees and several developers have abandoned ship, it will be hard to keep Sergey Brin’s dream alive.
7) iPhone 6 Plus Bendgate: Almost immediately after Apple began selling its massive iPhone 6 Plus in September, the Internet went crazy with images of bent phones. Internet personality Lewis Hilsenteger made “bendgate” a sensation by posting a YouTube video of himself bending the iPhone 6 Plus. Soon after, two British teenagers filmed themselves bending an iPhone 6 Plus in a London Apple Store. But Apple insisted that the phone doesn’t bend easily, saying that only 9 customers had complained about bending phones during the first week of sales.
