Six years ago, I was involved with a charity event and a standard recipe for such an event was for an auctioneer to take the microphone and spend 30 minutes trying to extract money from wallets in the room.

I had an idea to use technology instead. I cobbled together a few basic online auction tools and setup products online and... it was a flop.

With only 45 per cent of the adult population owning a smartphone at the time and people still nervous about credit card details online, it was doomed before it started.

I shelved the idea - until a month ago. I tried again and this time around it was an unmitigated success. The difference? Timing.

With over 90 per cent of the adult population now owning a smartphone and online shopping being tried by 96 per cent of adults, the timing was right.

What other technology flops have suffered from poor timing?

There are over 20 per cent of adults who currently own a tablet device and most of those owners would tell you the market segment was started by Apple in 2010 but the Microsoft Tablet PC was introduced 10 years earlier.

Despite similar features to a modern Tablet, the technology had simply not progressed sufficiently for it to succeed.

When we think of electric cars, we immediately think of Tesla who started Model S deliveries in 2012.

Sixteen years earlier the GM EV1 was launched and was a huge hit with customers who managed to secure one.

Reminiscent of Kodak's decision to patent the digital camera and then shelve production plans for fear of what it would do to film sales, GM was concerned what an electric car would do to the sales of spare parts and officially recalled all EV1 vehicles in 2003 and destroyed them.

Before the release of the iPhone in 2007, Apple had a previous attempt that was a complete flop.

The Apple Newton was released in 1993 but, in 1998, Steve Jobs killed off the product upon his return to the company. The concept was good but the battery, screen resolution and touch screen were all below expectations.

Many of us watch TV shows on our phones without a second thought.

In 1982, the Sony Watchman was released as a portable TV on the back of the success of the Sony Walkman. With a five centimetre black and white screen and a limited selection of channels, it was decades ahead of its time - and a flop!

In 2019 more than 50 million smartwatches will be sold with Apple the market leader.

It sounds like a case of déjà vu with Microsoft co-developing the Timex Datalink in 1994 and the Microsoft SPOT smartwatch in 2004 - both good concepts but the technology could not match the vision.