12 Discontinued Tech Products That We Miss So Much

Introduced: 1997

Discontinued: 2010

Another relic of the late 1990s, Palm's devices were the de facto handheld organizer for years — and hugely popular with business-types back in the day. They ran specialized apps like current smartphones, and some even had their own wireless data connections.

The devices bit the dust when HP acquired the company for $1.2 billion in 2010.

Introduced: 2005

Discontinued: 2013

This one's set to see its plug pulled on July 1 of this year. Google Reader was/is a powerful RSS feed management tool. It's beloved by many, but not enough for Google to keep busy supporting it.

The official explanation: "While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined. So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader."

Introduced: 2011

Discontinued: 2011

This discontinuation is almost laughable. Despite showing some promise, HP's TouchPad got the axe after just a month and a half on the market. We would've loved to see what it became.

It's unfortunately something of a mystery why it was ever discontinued. The closest to an explanation was that "the company isn’t going to release any more HP WebOS products, but will sell through any that have already shipped."

Introduced: 2006

Discontinued: 2011

A beloved, pocket-sized, super-simple camera that shot up to an hour of video and stored it digitally — what's not to love? Cisco acquired Pure Digital Technologies, the company behind the device, and ended up ceasing production.

Cisco had decided to use its consumer companies' resources to further support "four of its five key company priorities." Also, phone-based video cameras were becoming sophisticated enough so that people did not need to carry a separate video camera.

Introduced: 2011

Discontinued: 2012

We use this awesome email client every day, but it's no longer supported since the company was acquired by Google.

Introduced: 2006

Discontinued: 2010

Songbird, an open-source software alternative to iTunes, was incredibly popular among the Linux community. Then one day in 2010, the company stopped its Linux support, disappointing loads of users.

Introduced: 2004

Discontinued: 2011

This was a handy piece of PC software that provided users with a central location to simultaneously search email, files on a computer, music, photos, and web page history. It even supported handy widgets to offer up useful info at a glance.

Desktop was one of several products discontinued all at once as Google refocused its resources.

Introduced: 1948

Discontinued: 2008

One of the "celebrities" of discontinued products, Polaroid's instant film hung in there for a long time before the company pulled the plug. It saw a number different formats over the years before it ultimately went the way of the dodo.

The culprit behind its demise? Digital cameras.

Introduced: 1986

Discontinued: 2004

PageMaker was a groundbreaking desktop publishing program that made it a snap to produce compelling documents, magazines, or whatever other text and image-based media you wanted. Although development has ceased, Adobe still sells and supports it.

Adobe chose to focus on InDesign instead.

Introduced: 2008

Discontinued: 2013

Ah MySpace. It was the Facebook for people who were no longer in college. It brought social networking into the mainstream.

And in 2013, it was relaunched as "New Myspace," (we miss the innercap most of all!) with a bigger focus on music and less of a focus on crazy backgrounds and status updates. Fans of the classic site were upset because their countless selfies and blog posts were gone, but Myspace answered, giving people a way to download their memories.

Introduced: 2010

Discontinued: 2013

What is now known as the Kindle Keyboard was officially the third generation of Amazon's famous e-reader. It had the newer E Ink Pearl display, for sharper text and faster refresh rates. And an ad-supported version, the Kindle With Special Offers, was introduced in 2011.

It remained while Amazon pushed out the Kindle Touch, Kindle Paperwhite and, of course, the Kindle Fire. But it was quietly discontinued last year.

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