MARKREATORS ACTIVITY

GROUP MEMBERS: MEDHA SAHA, RAJDEEP HIRA, RAKTIM SENGUPTA, ROHIT KR. SHAW

TRACKING THE PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE OF SONY WALKMAN

STAGE 1: DEVELOPMENT

The Sony walkman was developed in the Sony Research Centre of Yokohama in Japan. Sony invested billions

in the research and development process which went on in 4 corporate laboratories by 9 development groups

spread all over the globe.

STAGE 2: INTRODUCTION

The first Sony Walkman, the TPS L2, a silver and blue colored portable player with flashy buttons, leather case

and headphones, entered the market place on 1st July, 1979 in Japan, priced at $200. This device now needed a

name. Originally Walkman was launched in US with the name of Sound- About and in UK with Stowaway. But

the only problem was that coming up uncopyrighted, new names for each country proved expensive. However

Sony chose Walkman as the name. Once released, the production proved to be a big hit. While the company

had predicted sale of only 5000 units in the month, Walkman was sold, more than 50,000 in first two months.

STAGE 3: GROWTH

Sony started introducing new models of Walkman every six months or less. There was a launch of a special

anniversary model in 1st July every year. Major model changes that require the introduction of new technology

occurred only once every three to five years. Sony strategized to prolong the products life in the marketplace.

Sales soon started moving towards an increasing trend with a total of 220 million cassette Walkmans being sold.

STAGE 4: MATURITY

At this phase, in the late 1980s, Sony started facing steep competition from Toshibas Walky, Aiwas

CassetteBoy and Panasonic. Sony also launched the compact disc player, the Discman, in 1984. As cassettes

started getting obsolete with the advent of CDs, Sony started marketing its Discman range with the name

Walkman.

STAGE 5: DECLINE

After Walkman had its share of fame over its lifecycle of 20 years, the time for bidding it goodbye came its

way. The new technology of MP3 players gained fans with better audio quality. Being market leader in portable

players, the company decided to retain Walkman as name and scrapped name Discman. And this how early

Walkman had paved way for the portable players. Developments in technology lead to outdating cassette

players but some deluxe models are still sold in Japan and South Korea. Soon, Sonys branding was taken over

by the more dynamic and aggressive iPod from Apple. In October 2010, Sony announced that they would stop

its production in Japan from that very month.

TRACKING THE LENGTH AND SHAPE OF SONY WALKMANS PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE:

STYLE, FASHION OR FAD?