Steve Jobs knew very well about success but also failure. The co-founder of Apple had already passed a few years in the tech world. Predicting when a project will be successful or not. And this What exactly happened when mobile ESPN was introduced to the idea?.

Mobile ESPN was designed to: A service that provides continuous information about different sports disciplines, tournaments and more. However, it was an idea with many shortcomings, a somewhat high price, and presented at an inopportune moment. Conscious of its features, Jobs was unable to maintain his discretion in this matter.

Jobs knew what he was saying

According to the book “These Guys Have All the Fun,” based on the ESPN story, Josb told ESPN president George Bodenheimer: “The phone is the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard”In the middle of a Disney board meeting in 2006.

Of course, Jobs was right. And this, The device was launched in 2005 and was withdrawn from the market just one year later.I had everything to lose.

The service mainly consisted of providing information for sports fans who needed to purchase a dedicated phone. Here they can get score updates, launch GameCast, browse ESPN.com content, and find a host of other features. Like this, customers had to pay up to $300 for the phone and $65 to $225 a month for content.

Mobile phone with exclusive sports information was released in 2005

In a transition period in technology mobile phones focus on delivering larger screens or email ESPN’s idea was not appealing. In fact, and according to the same book, quoting Steve Bornstein, former head of ESPN:

“The phone was a stupid idea. That’s what I told George. [Bodenheimer] what about john [Skipper, entonces director ejecutivo de ESPN]. It was a big gamble that was doomed to fail.”

Of course, as Jobs predicted, the project was a failure, a major failure. It is so large that today it occupies a place in the Museum of Failure, which showcases history’s worst inventions. We’re not exaggerating when we’re sure Jobs knows what he’s talking about. Well, close to ESPN Móvil is Apple Pippin, which is also considered one of the worst inventions in history.