Top 5 celebrity tech fails

When news hit this week that Ryan Seacrest was being sued a second time for his Typo iPhone keyboard, we thought it high time we took stock in some of the biggest celebrity technology flops. With an almost endless supply of money and even some “street cred” in the form of fame, many celebs jump at the opportunity to attach their names to the latest technologies, but not everyone has been successful in doing so. Ergo, Electronic Products presents: the 5 Top Celebrity Tech #Fails. 

5) Sean “Diddy” Combs and Tinychat

With a long track record of successfully establishing new names for himself (ahem, Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, and so on), Combs has not experienced the same level of success when it comes to putting his stamp on a new technology. In 2011, Diddy teamed up with other celebrities, including Ashton Kutcher, to invest in Tinychat, a video communication and messaging platform. In spite of the celebrities backing the app, it never really took off like some of its competitors (WeChat and WhatsApp) did. Late last year, it was announced that the still-fledgling Tinychat was acquired by Paltalk, another video messaging service. Hopefully Diddy recouped some of his investment with that deal.   

4) Oprah Winfrey and the Microsoft Surface

Seemingly, everything Oprah touches turns to gold, but ‘twas not so when it comes to her endorsement of the Microsoft Surface. It’s true that the “Queen of Talk” has not only a loyal following, but a following so loyal they trust her judgment on the endorsement of just about any product. In 2012, Oprah named the Microsoft Surface as one of her “Favorite Things,” an endorsement that often results in the sale of hundreds of thousands of products. However, her public pronouncement of love became a little awkward when Winfrey tweeted to her loyal (and incredibly large) following in the Twitterverse, “Gotta say love the SURFACE! Have bought 12 already for Christmas gifts. #FavoriteThings.” The only problem: at the very bottom of that Tweet was the unmistakable “via Twitter for iPAD” tag. Oops.   

3) U2 and Apple

Universally considered one of the most talented and successful bands of the modern age, U2 teamed up with Apple last year to release their new album. With 11 tracks, the Songs of Innocence album had been highly anticipated for years. Apple reportedly paid up to $100 million to the band for the rights to upload the album onto all iOS devices. As such, the album was automatically downloaded to every Apple user’s music list without their permission. The move by Apple freaked many people out, citing the greater security implications of a company willing to upload whatever they wanted onto devices without the express permission of the users. Fortunately, there was a fairly easy way to remove the album from the individual devices, but not before there was a big backlash against Apple and U2.  

2) Kanye West and Turntable.fm

Is it any surprise that Kanye fancied himself a tech genius? In the summer of 2011, Turntable.fm launched as an online music service in which users could pose as astronauts and bears and cats playing songs together in a chat room that resembled a rock club. At the onset, the service attracted more than 360,000 users in just three months. But the newness wore off quickly, leaving co-founders Billy Chasen and Seth Goldstein scratching their heads. With a slew of celebrity investments, perhaps the most annoying (of course) came in the form of Kanye West. When asked about his part in a $7 million investment round, Kanye – ever the self-effacing epitome of humility – predicted his name “is going to mean something similar to what Steve Jobs means.” Good heavens… that poor man must be rolling in his grave.  

1) Ryan Seacrest and Typo

Like a wrestling match that may never end, Seacrest and his very BlackBerry-esque keyboard Typo (for use on an iPhone) are fighting with one another yet again in Round #2. The first iteration of the keyboard looked so similar that BlackBerry sued in January 2014, and had won a preliminary injunction banning Typo from selling the accessory less than two months later. The second version of the Typo has some modifications that make it look less similar to the BlackBerry keyboard, such as a different shape for the keys, a shuffled layout and the removal of BlackBerry’s trademark frets. But it still looks similar enough that Blackberry has filed suit against Typo yet again. BlackBerry has claimed that the Typo 2 case “still blatantly copies” its iconic keyboard designs and also that the Typo 2 “infringes upon several BlackBerry-owned patents relating to backlighting and typing automation.” Only time will tell how this drama will unfold.   

Do you know of some other celebrity tech fails that you'd like to share? We’d love to see your feedback, so please comment below to let us know if we’re missing any big #fails.