Sony Betamax

1975-2002

In 1975, Sony released an innovative home video tape recorder called Betamax. Only a year later, their much smaller competitor JVC released the competing VHS format. The Video Format War had begun! Betamax was higher quality than VHS, but more expensive. Another minus for the Betamax was its initial limitation to one hour of recording, whereas the VHS could record a full movie. Sony also refused to license the format to other collaborators, including the growing porn industry, while VHS built an ecosystem of partners and offered a greater selection of films. Sony lost the Video Format War. This classic story of tech innovation failure demonstrates that technical excellence and being first to market are not enough.

Additional info:

Wikipedia Betamax, and more interesting: Wikipedia about the video tape format war

Grin.com - Case Study of the Competitive Battle of Video...

qz.com - Sony is finally putting Betamax out of its misery