What is vaporware?
Vaporware is a product that is announced, marketed or pre-sold publicly while still in prototype or pre-prototype phase, without a credible delivery date. The term originated in the 1980s software industry and applies today to AI products, crypto promises and hardware announcements.
Vaporware raises significant legal risk: misleading-advertising claims, consumer-protection violations, breach of pre-sale contracts, and (for public companies) securities-fraud exposure. Public statements about unreleased products must be carefully reviewed for forward-looking-statement protection.