2026-09-06
No. 11 of the Greatest Product Managers: Akio Morita — He Was Right About the Walkman and Wrong About How People Would Use It
The Walkman shipped on July 1, 1979 with an initial run of 30,000 units. It sold 3,000 in its first month. Sony staff spent weekends on trains and busy streets handing headphones to strangers; August sold 27,000 and cleared the run. By the end of March 1999, 186 million cassette Walkmans had been sold. Morita ranks 11th at 94.20 — vision 98, but insight only 92, because he put two headphone jacks on it.
