It might've been ahead of its time. There is a funny thing that Apple are good at where early adopters decide they're going for something, they "invest", an ecosystem develops, the price goes down (or more models appear, some cheaper) and people start prioritising buying that thing. Tesla also, with their sequences of car releases.

I'm not saying this will follow that pattern, just that low adoption of a lower price product that can technically do something isn't necessarily evidence of failure of the idea.