What happens when you don't cross the chasm - you fall in it

Most of the time, great technological products "cross the chasm" - they gradually go from niche solutions to blockbuster mass products. Sometimes, instead of crossing the chasm, however, they fall into the chasm and great technologies disappear.

Earlier this week, I boarded a flight and found out that the Verizon Airfone, my dependable ally that helps me be in 2 places at once, disappeared. The phones on board the United aircraft where all shut-off. Although Verizon's license continues until 2010, they decided to shut-off the service early after losing the bid for the next generation on board services. So, we'll all have to wait probably another 3-4 years while airlines promise to provide us the next generation of on-board cell-phone and data service.

In honor of the death of Verizon's airfone serivce, I've collected a few other technologies that fell into the chasm instead crossing it and I'll post them this week.

1. Verizon Air Fone



The original airfone providing domestic service for just $0.10 per minute for Verizon Wireless customers. In it's earlier incarnation as the GTE Airfone, they used to offer a deal - $15 per call, unlimited time. For me, that meant 9.6kb dial-up from New York to LA on one call.