Functionality Mistakes Throughout History That Were Way Too Expensive to Fix

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell approached Western Union in Rochester, NY, with his telephone invention. However, Western Union, underestimating the technology’s potential and envisioning a future powered by telegrams, rejected Bell’s pitch, missing out on what would become a $551.7 billion industry.

Following Western Union’s rejection, which included William Orton’s scornful laughter at Bell’s proposal, Bell, undeterred and leveraging his background as a teacher for the hearing-impaired, founded Bell Telephone. This company would later establish a monopoly in the American telecommunications sector.