Apple's hand-held Newton MessagePad flopped because it was ahead of its time. It kicked off the Personal Digital Assistant market 20 years ago, laying the foundation for today's hand-held gadgets. Initially mocked for its poor handwriting recognition, Apple's Newton was eventually pushed aside by the PalmPilot, which in turn was killed off by the smartphone revolution.

It's a rocky road to success for many gadgets, as we wait for technology to catch up with the designer's vision. Microsoft's smartwatches, known as Smart Personal Objects Technology or ''SPOT'' for short, were a major flop. Relying on FM radio, the watch was designed to tell you the day's weather and other basic information. It died a slow and painful death, but of course now talk of an Apple smartwatch is whipping gadget lovers into a frenzy.

Fallen soldier: The Sega Dreamcast.

Many abandoned gadgets turned out to be prototypes for those that later found glory. Microsoft's Mira touchscreen tablets and the wave of Windows-powered Ultra Mobile PCs rose and fell before Apple's iPad struck a chord with consumers.

Since the launch of Apple's iGadgets we've seen hits and misses. The short-lived Microsoft Kin smartphone was scrapped after less than two months on the shelves. The ill-fated HP TouchPad tablet running Palm's webOS fared even worse. It was canned by reviewers and scrapped only four days after it went on sale in Australia, with some retailers even offering refunds to burned early adopters.