Gadgetory

some legendary gadgets require huge leaps forward some amazing new tech that opens up a world of possibilities but the Sony's Walkman all the pieces were already there this is a story south Tony put them together in inventing the world-famous Walkman Sony became the first company to recognize the power of portable personal music but by the time that recognition occurred the first Walkman was already on sale meet the Sony TCM 100 voice recorder also known as the press man this unassuming device was aimed at reporters and its primary function was to record audio onto a cassette tape course once sound was recorded you could also listen to that tape back in his book made in Japan Sony's then chairman Akio Morita described seeing his colleague using a sony voice recorder to listen to music using a pair of chunky headphones it dawns on them that by removing the key feature of their product they could create something much more exciting an ingenious moment of discovery that we've been unable to replicate Sony's engineers stripped the press man down ditching the recording circuit and speaker and replacing them with a stereo amplifier an extra headphone port was added so two people could listen at once and the press man's record button became the hotline a button activated microphone for speaking to your listening partner finally Sony crafted a set of extremely light miniature headphones and the first walkman was ready according to Marta there was doubt within Sony as to whether the walkman gamble would pay off but when it hit Japan in the summer of 1979 the TPS l2 proves a massive success sony sold its entire stock of 30,000 units in two months boosting the gadgets popularity by hiring young couples to walk around Tokyo listening to the Walkman and presumably looking dead trendy a nice idea that I suspect would work less well in cold unfriendly London oh this cool the phony one oh yeah sure sorry walkman eventually became the products global name but it was originally called the sound about in the US and in the UK it was the stowaway which makes it sound like it's going to hide in a grog barrel and eat all your ships biscuits the TP SL 2 was built by removing features from an existing product but with his second walkman Tony got a flexes designed muscles the WM 2 was much smaller thanks to some reorganized components and control buttons positioned on the front of the device the dual volume controls from the first walkman were ditched as was the hotline button but as a bonus you did get this dorky belt clip the WM 2 became the most popular cassette playing Walkman ever cementing Sony is the king of mobile music and paving the way for many weird and wonderful workmen to come during the Walkmans lifespan Sony bought us toughened waterproof models solar-powered players and a royal version offered as a gift to Princess Diana eventually the walkman got it's recording powers back as well as radio capability despite an onslaught of rival devices Sony remained the king of portable tunes ten years later walkman sales hit 50 million in 1992 they hit 100 million with dozens and dozens of different models available the Walkman spawned the disc man then mini discs and mp3s before it was eventually crushed by apples iPod the Walkman changed the way we enjoy music but Sony's akio morita later said he didn't believe any amount of market research could have predicted the Walkman success you could call it a lucky break but maybe the lesson here is the fresh exciting tech can come from anywhere even something that's already been invented what are your Walkman memories let me know and check back next time for another adventure in tech