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?