A walk(man) to remember

With the Walkman facing stiff competition from cousins like the iPod and mp3 players, its production has officially been stopped for lack of takers. CS tells you more about our once-favourite music gadget that will now be a thing of the past:

>>u00a0The device was built in 1978 by audio-division engineer Nobutoshi Kihara for Sony co-chairman Akio Morita, who wanted to listen to operas during his frequent plane trips.

The original Walkman was marketed in 1979.

>>u00a0Morita hated the name Walkman and asked that it be changed, but relented after being told that a promotion campaign had already begun and it would be too expensive to change.

>>u00a0Sony began selling the Walkman TPS-L2 in Japan, for 30,000 Yen, or about the equivalent of $150 in 1979 dollars.

>>u00a0Before being written off, the Walkman sold 220 million units in three decades.