It was the invention that defined a generation. Portable and cool, the Sony Walkman was a must-have for any self-respecting teen in the 1980s.

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But in October, 2010 Sony announced that it would no longer be making the iconic portable cassette players after more than 30 years of continual production.

Sony sold about 220 million cassette Walkman players globally since the product's July 1979 debut that changed lifestyles by popularizing music on the go. Legend has it that the device was first built in 1978 by Sony engineer Nobutoshi Kihara for Sony co-chairman Akio Morita, who wanted to be able to listen to operas during his frequent trans-Pacific plane trips. And since then there was no looking back.

Sony was the Apple of its day, a company that released products that were the result of innovation being merged with everyday media consumption habits. When Sony unveiled the now-legendary Walkman in 1979, it fomented a revolution in the way people interacted with music. Buyers flocked in droves to retailers to get their hands on the device that would allow them to bring their music, in the form of analog cassette tapes, wherever they wanted. It was the must-have device of the decade, cementing the Sony brand in the mind of consumers as the name in electronics. Even when rival companies began churning out lower costknockoffs, consumer demand for the Walkman remained high because consumers trusted the name. No matter the price, people would buy a device if it had the Sony name printed on it.

A massive hit for the entire 1980s and early 1990s the Walkman was eventually superseded by the emerging digital technologies of CD, DAT and Sony's own MiniDisc. Following up on the Walkman craze of the '80s, Sony once again changed the entire face of audio recording when it teamed up with Phillips to perfect the compact disc media format. CDs opened up a vast array of possibilities with the ability to give users a "master" copy of audio files as well as the convenience of being able to quickly select different tracks. The quality and amount of music that can be stored on a compact disc vastly outstripped the cassette tape, and once again thrust Sony into the forefront of media consumption innovation. Unfortunately, the CD can be seen as the peak of Sony's influence on the market. While it continued to develop new formats, such as the MiniDisc, none enjoyed the mass adoption that its previous efforts had enjoyed. (Sure, MiniDV and Blu-ray have done well, but only because of a lack of affordable alternative storage mediums.

More than 30 years later, the cassette Walkman has been rendered an anachronism by MP3 players and iPods. If I had to point to a specific day in history that marked the decline of Sony as the worldwide leader in technology, it would be October 23, 2001. This was the date that Steve Jobs took the stage in his mock-turtle necked glory and announced the next revolution in music, the iPod. In one fell swoop, Apple beat Sony to one of the most important technological advances this century. By giving consumers a device with instant purchasing power and the ability to listen to high quality audio files on the go, Cupertino completely changed the playing field for music consumption, a feat that Sony was no longer capable of.

4a) What could have been the key factors contributing to the success of Sony when Walkman was introduced?(4 marks)

4b) What do you think could be the key reasons for the decline of Sony in the business of music?(4 marks)

4c) Could this decline be avoided by Sony? If yes, how?