The apps that shaped modern UI but failed as businesses

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.