The apps that shaped modern UI but failed as businesses
Path, Mailbox, Rdio, Flipboard, Facebook Paper and Clear introduced some of the most influential interface ideas but never became huge.
Remember spending hours studying the UI and interactions in these?
These apps introduced patterns we’re all familiar with today:
Tweetie invented pull-to-refresh:
Path popularised the floating compose button:
- Mailbox introduced horizontal swipe-based email actions.
Rdio popularised the flat, translucent aesthetic:
Clear pushed gesture-first interactions further than any other app at the time:
However, when it comes to product/business success, arguably only Tweetie made it (acquired by Twitter and became its official app):
Path, Tweetbot, and Paper shut down.
Mailbox and Rdio teams were acquired, but the products were shut down.
Flipboard and Clear are still around but never became hugely successful.
These apps changed how we interact with software today. But they also show that great craft/design doesn’t necessarily predict or guarantee product or business success.
Clear and Path are the perfect examples. Gorgeous interaction models that every other app quietly absorbed, while the originals couldn’t turn taste into retention. The UI was the moat everyone copied and nobody paid for. Influence and revenue rarely sit in the same column. Which of these do you think came closest to actually making it?