Tech Apple's Top 5 Blunders

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Apple's AAPL sudden change of heart on application developer restrictions last week was a rare humbling moment for tech's top agenda setter. The move was most accurately seen as a reversal of Steve Jobs' 'Thoughts on Flash' letter written in April. It was a bold, principled stand that went against the majority of the tech community that uses Flash. It also probably rubbed Federal trade regulators -- who have certain obligations to monitor anti-competitive business practices -- the wrong way. Apple's 180-degree turn probably thwarted a big Adobe ADBE Flash-supporter uprising and possibly spared the company a legal headache. But this Flash tantrum is a reminder of other times in Apple's past when the company's bold moves weren't necessarily the best moves. Here are the five top blunders in Apple's grand history. No. 5: the Newton MessagePad A tablet that was way ahead of its time. The 7.5 inch touch-screen tablet offered infrared wireless connections at distances as far as three feet away. Users could write notes or draw pictures with a stylus and even fax documents. But the price tag for all that tech may have been a tad large. The Newton sold for $700 in 1992; that's more than $1,000 in today's money. And it was just a PDA. Apple pulled the plug on Newton after three years of weak sales. No. 4: Apple TV Apple's would-be technology bridge has twice failed to span the divide between the computer and the TV. So why not try it a third time? This month, Apple did just that. After saying earlier this summer that the solution was to "tear up the set-top box," Steve Jobs introduced Apple TV 3 -- a set-top box. While this is Apple's third try at building the right TV device, we have not seen the last of it. Apple is expected to introduce as early as next year an all-in-one HDTV, Internet video console that has the set-top box built in. Stay tuned. To read the rest, head over to TheStreet.com