These products have failed so fast and yet they have laid the groundwork for world-changing technologies you currently enjoy now.

Time Magazine has released its list of '20 Most Successful Technology Failures of All Time" - defined as cutting-edge products that have died shortly after launch, but have paved the way for more improved versions or may yet still lead to something spectacular.

"Like an experiment gone awry, they can still teach us something about technology and how people want to use it," said Time.

The list was ranked in order of influence. The top five are as follows:

1.      Napster - Napster pioneered the shift from compact discs to ethereal digital tunes. It allowed sharing of music collection, including copyright-infringing songs and albums.

2.     Blackberry - Blackberry came before the iPhone overtook the smartphone market. It was the first smartphones for many users that enabled them to connect online, send and receive email, and chat with one another over the company's BlackBerry Messenger, or BBM, service.

3.     Aol - Aol was said to be the precursor to every messaging app today and later a web browser before Google took the center stage.

4.     Palm Pilot - Palm Pilot was the very first palm handheld device in 1997.

5.     Betamax - Betamax has laid the foundation for binary platform battles.

Other technologies included in the list are GM EV-1, Netscape, Windows 8, MySpace, AltaVista, Google Glass, Dreamcast, Motorola ROKR E1, Segway, QR Codes, Pebble, The Daily, MapQuest, Virtual Boy, and Tivo.

Still can't get enough? PC World also has a list of its 50 best tech products of all time that also remembers technologies that have attained a certain level of popularity before they died down.

Some of them are  Apple II, Lotus 1-2-3 for DOS, Apple iPod, Hayes Smartmodem, Motorola StarTAC, WordPerfect 5.1, and Tetris.