The story of Sony: from repair shop to revolution, how Walkman inventor changed music listening and, with PlayStation, home entertainment
- Founded in 1946, the Japanese electronics company invented the Walkman and the PlayStation, popularised the CD player, and bought a Hollywood studio
- But it had its failures too, such as Betamax and, as its 75th anniversary approaches, it’s been a while since it launched a product that has really turned heads
Malia Verniolle was almost eight years old when her father gave her a gadget she says changed her life in a number of ways. She also recalls that the earliest incarnation of the Sony Walkman had a nasty habit of trapping her fingers in its spring-loaded door for cassette tapes.
“My father gave it to me as a joint present for Christmas and my birthday, which is in early January,” said Verniolle, who grew up and still lives in southern France. “I remember being stunned and delighted to receive what became a true companion. I was an only child and spent a lot of time on my own, so I took my Walkman with me everywhere I went.
“As soon as I put the headphones on, whether I was at home or simply walking in familiar places, music made everything seem special.”
More importantly, Paul Du Gay wrote in his book The Story of the Sony Walkman, it had “introduced the idea of ‘Japanese-ness’ into global culture, synonymous with miniaturisation and high-technology”.
If the Walkman made Sony a household name around the world, the company’s story begins a good deal earlier. The firm can trace its roots to May 1946 – just nine months after Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II – when Masaru Ibuka opened an electronics repair outlet in a Tokyo department store. He was soon joined by Akio Morita, and the two men called their firm Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, which translates as Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corp.
