Hypes ... and Busts

The consumer electronics industry is constantly searching for hot new products that might rival the VCR or the CD player in sales. But most recent efforts to establish new mass-market products have been a bust.

* CDI: Philips’ Compact Disc-Interactive, launched in 1991, was supposed to usher in the multimedia revolution. But the machine was clunky, expensive and late, and it lacked good software--the perfect recipe for failure.

* 3DO: This high-performance multimedia machine launched in 1993 was supposed to be everything CDI was not: fast and inexpensive, with great software and lots of industry backing. But consumers saw it as little more than a Nintendo machine at three times the price.

* Apple Newton: This hand-held computer was supposed to define a whole new category of consumer electronics. And it did: pricey widgets with nifty technology but no clear purpose.

* Mini Disc and DCC: Sony, Philips and other manufacturers thought consumers were clamoring for new digital music systems--one a small disc and the other a new type of tape--whose sound wasn’t even as good as the CD but would require all new hardware and new recordings. They weren’t.