12 gadgets and apps that took a few tries to get right

As the great poet and musician Aubrey Drake Graham once sang, "It's not about who did it first, it's about who did it right."

That's true: Like comedy, selling a product is all in the timing. Sometimes even the best ideas don't work out the first time, whether because the technology isn't ready or because the market isn't.

But those failures are a great opportunity for the next person, who gets to look at the mistakes of those who have gone before and figure out how how to make it work.

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.