'Mr. Walkman' walks away
By Donald Melanson 
posted November 10th 2006 11:54AM
posted November 10th 2006 11:54AM
Pioneering Sony engineer Nobutoshi Kihara recently retired from the company he's spent most of his career with, the AFP reports, after having a hand in creating many of the Japanese giant's most successful gadgets (and a few of the not so successful ones). In addition the Walkman, Kihara also helped developed the first commercially successful transistor radio, Japan's first magnetic tape recorders, and a range of other Sony products, including portable tape recorders, stereo systems, digital cameras, and everybody's favorite: Betamax. That last bit of 80s nostalgia apparently still leaves the 80-year old Kihara wistful for what could have been, with the AFP reporting that "it still boiled his blood to think that consumers have been forced to use the 'inferior' VHS over Sony's Betamax." A situation that, of course, now sees history repeating itself, although Kihara's no doubt happy to watch this format war play out from the sidelines.
Wow, a great moment of history. :)
Oh my god, it's jackie chan!
I'm not sure why 'inferior' is in quotes.. Beta was vastly superior in every technical respect to VHS, and the reason it's still in wide commercial use.
Good proof that having the best product isn't always enough.
Sony was really an awesome company back in those days. Genki de ne, Kihara-san.
Mr. Nobutoshi Kihara, you are right up there with all other greatest heroes in human history. We thank you from all our hearts, for being who you are. As an engineer, I'd be happy if I can do 1/100th of what you did.
Happy retirement!
-dj
ps. sony is still one of the most awesome companies in the world, though crippled down quite a bit by their own wieght. go buy a reader, and you'll thank science for the existence of sony.
I'd love to have his pension.
Of course Betamax was better than VHS. The failure of Betamax was due to (a) lower cost associated with VHS machines and (b) the porn industry realised they could make more money by selling VHS porn tapes.
It'll take a few more years, but I think Sony are heading back on the right tracks.
Innovation is hard to come by these days, so Kihara-san deserves the respect of every tech-loving man, woman and child out there.
re: VHS/Beta - that was probably one of the early instances of Sony starting to get too cocky for it's own good, in not being more open in it's licencing permissions and encouraging more support etc. But all was not lost, because Betamax lived on in camcorders as the Digital8 (and it's Hi8 predecessor) are based on Betamax technology.
Enjoy retirement.
Saru mo ki kara ochiru - though in his cas ei cant think of any :)
I can not express my feeling now
it is nice
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I sincerely hope that Sony's ability to produce leading technology doesn't retire along with Mr Kihara. As a older teenager flush with money from summer jobs, the latest Walkman was a must for me. I collected different models that same way that people currently collect different iPods today. My favorites were the tape Walkman products advertised to be the same size as the casette tape case, and also the Credit Card FM Walkman. The MiniDisc later came to relieve me of my disposable income. Unfortunately for SONY, but to the benefit of everyone else, MP3 came along and sidelined the MiniDisc to also-ran status.
Sony was a fascinating company in the 80's. I couldn't afford their products at the time, but my buddy and I would go to well known department stores and hang out in the stereo department for hours, playing with the latest Sony stereo system. Sony found a way to stick a tiny motor in just about everything!
Thank you, Mr Kihara!
Walkman = Andreas Pavel
Betamax would be 1970s nostalgia, not 1980s.
Hmmm... I guess everyone has forgot the great Sony had stolen the Walkman idea from Andreas Pavel, he has won many lawsuits against Sony in the past 20 years, but its only last year that Sony admitted they didn't actually invent the Walkman, google it up if you don't believe me.
Respect to Nobutoshi Kihara for all his work, but he's not Mr. Walkman, Mr. Pavel is.
Two items:
The amplifier circuit was from a Raytheon transistorized hearing-aide design that visiting Sony engineers spotted and got through a technology sharing agreement.
Sony had stringent rules on who could publish movies in Betamax format - the opposing camp did not and let anythgin go through. Therefore "adult" movies came out in VHS and actually opened up the adult movie industry where people did not have to go to (at the time) sleazebag area to watch movies with skin. And as opposed to the stuff today - actual plots.
Johnnyg0 is right:
Sony did NOT invent the walkman!
It was the german Andreas Pavel ... but you know: One person against a company: impossible.
T . W . G
there is no proof anything was 'stolen'. Someone comes up with a CONCEPT and patents it. Others come up with a tiny commercially-saleable product and MAKE it. Big difference.
Just because it may have been patented first doesn't make the Walkman concept stolen. Many similar ideas are developed independently in different parts of the world by completely different people. Then again there always IS that possibility the concept was stolen, who knows? But what I'm saying is that nobody can claim with any certainty that it was. Just because someone contests some concept or patent and eventually wins some royalties it doesn't mean that it was actually a stolen idea.
Anyway...
Sony faced untold obstacles to miniaturise walkmans and commercialise them, for the rest of the industry to follow. Nobody else put in the hard work to make it an actual product like this.
I salute the talented Sony engineers like Nobutoshi Kihara. It's a shame he wasn't asked about SonicStage and Digital Rights Management in general. When Sony became an entertainment business, the hardware suffered. Much like the hardware and software that is suffering now as Microsoft, Sony & Apple kiss up to the entertainment industry (or become part of it, as the case may be).
Interesting quote:
"Technological progress ends once we start imitating others."
"Beta was vastly superior in every technical respect to VHS, and the reason it's still in wide commercial use."
Betamax which was competing with VHS... is NOT in wide commercial use.
Take a Betamax tape and try playing in a Betacam SP/SX / Digital Betacam deck and tell me how well that works for you.
hint : it's *almost* like they are different things entirely and merely share a vaguely similar case size.