Obamacare -- and 8 other bungled launches
When Facebook finally made its long-awaited initial public offering on May 18, 2012, orders were delayed and bungled by the Nasdaq exchange. The next day, to the horror of early buyers, the stock started a long slide that would cut its price in half. It took almost a year for Facebook shares to finally return to their IPO price. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
When Medicare added a prescription drug benefit in October 2005, it did so without an online marketplace -- the site wasn’t ready until the following month, and even then it buckled under the demand. Medicare’s call center also had problems with long waits and dropped calls, as well as a high percentage of inaccurate responses to seniors’ questions. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press)
Google sought to transform the TV-watching experience in late 2010 with a set-top box that could tune in programs from either the Internet or the networks. But it couldn’t deliver on its promise, largely because a number of major TV programmers blocked their on-demand episodes from appearing on Google TV devices. Buggy software didn’t help. (Paul Sakuma / Associated Press)
A man rides a shared bike rented through the Citi Bike program in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Oct. 4. The program was beset by mechanical problems and overwhelmed by demand when it launched in May, but it has apparently righted itself since then. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)