Sony Wireless Headphones
Sony Corporation just celebrated 26 years of wireless headphones, with its 26th anniversary of the Walkman, the first wireless headphone. In July of 1979 the first wireless headphones by Sony debuted, the TPS-L2.
Since that time, Sony wireless headphones, the famous Walkman, have ushered in the era of easy listening anywhere for millions of walkers, travelers and just plain folk. Sony Corporation reported worldwide shipment of about 50 million Walkman wireless headphones, and 190 million cassette tapes to accompany the Walkman. The latest version, the MD Walkman, has sold nearly 5 million units so far.
Before the Walkman's wireless headphones concept, the only way folks could enjoy music was at home with their stereo or on their car stereo. Masaru Ibuka, founder and then honorary chair after his retirement, created the wireless headphones concept so that he could enjoy music without disturbing others.
Sony Corporation engineers and music experts eliminating the record and speaker functions form conventional cassette tape recorders and replaced them with stereo circuits in conjunction with stereo headphones terminals. Thus was born the wireless headphones.
Many were skeptical of this new wireless headphone concept. Some of these who scoffed were actual Sony workers concerned about the idea's marketability and sales potential. Two months after it launched, all were believers. It didn't hurt that they enlisted the advertising efforts of major celebrities either, who donned the Walkman wireless headphones.
Walkman wireless headphones are known all over the globe, of course. The name was an initial stumbling block however. All but the Japanese originators opposed the Walkman name. In the U.S. they sold the wireless headphones as the Soundabout, while in English they were Stowaways. In Australia these wireless headphones were named Freestyle. Morita finally put his foot down and announced that Walkman would be the global name. Now the trade name is so well recognized as synonymous with wireless headphones that walkman has been listed, since 1986, in the Oxford English dictionary as an accepted new word.
Of course, headphones are an essential ingredient in the Walkman wireless concept. Lightweight, the Walkman headphones have evolved to now include an interior of the ear variety. This inner ear headphone debuted in 1982 and was called NUDE. In 1982, the headphones earned the name "eggo" because of its egg shape, in 1992. The behind the neck style was introduced in 1997. Nearly 500 million Walkman wireless headphones have been sold by Sony to date.