The fax machine was invented in the 1860s and demonstrated to bankers as a way to transmit documents faster than courier. The bankers didn't get it. Translation: the customers sometimes don't get it.

At times you make things that are useless. Other times you make things that look useless now. So you drop it.

It wasn't until the 1960s that fax machines became a part of the business environment. The guy who brought it back from obscurity was lauded as a genius. The dangers of making something ahead of the times.