Walkman

Did you know that the original Walkman was a genuine, bona fide, minimum viable product.

I’m a big fan of Techmoan, and he did a big video on this this last week, but if you just want the highlights.

The original Walkman that we now all recognise because apart from anything else it was in Guardians of the Galaxy was created by Sony taking a mono portable tape recorder with a speaker, putting a stereo transport and amp in it, and removing the speaker.

Then they put it in a box with some stereo headphones.

They didn’t know if it was going to sell, so they found some parts they had and threw it together and let the market decide.

The second one they made was more what they wanted to do, once they knew there was a market.

The went and made something that was not cribbed together from the parts bin. Then, they sat back and watched every other electronics manufacturer on earth make a cheaper one.

6/Dec/2023