Although actually discontinued in 2011, 2012 was the year the white MacBook got the official "End of Life" status. Popular with students, the white MacBook had been the budget option for Apple users since 2006.
Image courtesy of Apple
2. Dell Venue/Venue Pro
Dell exited the smartphone market in 2012 with the March announcement that it would no longer offer the "Venue" Windows smartphones, stating it had reached "End of Life." The phones had suffered technical issues during their brief period of availability.
Image courtesy of Dell
3. Amazon Kindle DX
Amazon quietly killed off its biggest e-reader in late 2012. The 9.7-inch DX, aimed at students, was dropped from the Kindle lineup. While Amazon never commented on the decision, it's thought that sales of the large device had never been strong since its 2009 launch.
Image courtesy of Amazon
4. Apple iPad 3
Somewhat controversially, Apple introduced a new iPad just six months after the latest gen was released. As the iPad 4 became the new flagship Apple tablet complete with a new processor, better battery life and upgraded cameras, the iPad 3 became obsolete.
Image courtesy of Apple
5. Logitech Squeezebox
This year has seen the end of the Logitech Squeezebox connected music platform. The company is replacing it with its UE Smart Radio service, which existing Squeezebox users can upgrade to if they wish.
Image courtesy of The third-gen iPhone, launched back in 2009, remained in production until 2012. When Apple announced the launch of the iPhone 5, however, it retired the best-selling handset from its iPhone lineup. Image courtesy of Apple Webtop was a combo of software and hardware that allowed a phone to dock into and run a lightweight laptop. With a too-high price and too niche functionality, Webtop was killed off in 2012. Motorola said, "While consumers around the world have adopted Webtop and the concept spurred a lot of innovation in the industry, the adoption has not been strong enough to justify continued resources being allocated to developing Webtop on future devices." Image courtesy of Motorola First introduced in 2003 into the PowerBook range, Apple's mammoth 17-inch laptop got the chop in mid-2012, leaving 13- and 15-inch screen sizes as the only two choices for anyone looking for a portable Mac. Image courtesy of Apple Once a game-changer in the consumer computing market, Asus will stop manufacture of its Eee PC netbooks. Asustek CEO Jerry Shen confirmed in September that future production will focus on tablets. Image courtesy of Asus The " Image courtesy of Google This year, quite a few products disappeared from the market, as technology inevitably marches on. Whether they got pulled for being faulty or just weren't commercially successful, these 10 examples have virtually expired.
Take a look through the gallery, above, for the 10 products we've chosen to highlight. Share in the comments, below, any other gadgetry you've noted that has been removed from shop shelves in the last 12 months. Thumbnail image courtesy of Apple
6. Apple iPhone 3GS
7. Motorola Webtop
8. Apple 17-Inch MacBook Pro
9. Asus Eee PC Netbooks
10. Google Nexus Q
