> The name "Dictaphone" was trademarked in 1907 by the Columbia Graphophone Company, which soon became the leading manufacturer of such devices. This perpetuated the use for voice recording of wax cylinders [...] Dictaphone was spun off into a separate company in 1923 under the leadership of C. King Woodbridge. [...] In 1947, having relied on wax-cylinder recording to the end of World War II, Dictaphone introduced its Dictabelt technology.
So the company used the wax-cylinder technology for 40 years, and then continued with other technologies until 1979, when they were bought up by Pitney Bowes. Doesn't sound like a failure to me...
Product failed but the name it was given was brilliant and timeless as it's used until today in many languages.