Meant to post about this yesterday, but got sidetracked.  Anyway…

…30 years ago yesterday on 1 July 1979…

…the very first Sony Walkman went on sale in Japan.

This really was a breakthrough product in how people could choose to listen to music.

Sure there had been portable transistor radios before…

…but with the Walkman you could take your own music with you, choosing what you listened to while on the move or travelling.

Sony beat off fierce competition from other Japanese electronics giant and came to dominate the portable music market.

For a long time, they did a great job in building the brand and maintaining their leadership.  They continually innovated, bringing out new models and even made the Walkman a collectable with “anniversary” editions every 5 years up until 1999.

They managed to take new technology in their stride with the Discman, for example…

…and then it all went horribly wrong!

Their nemesis…

…Apple and the iPod.

It’s not as if Sony didn’t respond to new technology and the move to digital music.

They simply misread the market, backed the wrong technology and got trounced by a superior product system and inspired marketing.

Now they’re an also-ran in a market they once owned.

A sobering marketing lesson for any company and another example of what happens to all too many big corporates (they get fat and lazy and forget what made them successful).

Let’s not dwell on their mistakes…

…but salute a great product and the people who had the vision to create the Walkman.