If nothing else, it's good to see a company that maintains its commitments to
a product line, even if long after its "ecosystem has eroded":

======================================

Sony Pulls the Plug on Betamax VCR
.c The Associated Press

TOKYO (Aug. 27) - Sony closed the final chapter of its legendary battle with
Victor Co. of Japan to dominate the home video machine market, when it
announced Tuesday that it would discontinue its Betamax VCRs.

Sony will stop manufacturing Betamax machines by year's end as the company
refocuses its efforts on DVD and other technologies now dominating the
market, Sony spokeswoman Shoko Yanagizawa said.

The announcement marks the end of a 27-year run, during which the fabled
brand sold 18 million units worldwide in a race against VHS technology from
its archrival Victor Co., which is also known as JVC, to set the video format
standard.

Betamax was first to market, hitting stores in 1975 and peaking with global
sales of 2.3 million units in 1984.

But the decision not to share its technology with rival companies proved to
be Sony's fatal mistake.

In a classic case of the underdog winning the race, VHS - short for "video
home system'' - had clearly won the battle by the mid-1980s. The technology
used now in millions of video recorders around the world is JVC's.

While the war between competing standards is ensconced in business lore -
with many die-hard fans still debating the pros and cons of the two
technologies - Yanagizawa blamed the decision to halt production on the new
era of DVDs and other advanced digital technologies that are making the
videocassette obsolete.

Even for JVC, videocassette technology is losing its luster. The company lost
money two of the last three fiscal years and is forecasting losses for the
year that ended March 31.

Overseas production of the Betamax ground to a halt in 1998. In Japan, Sony
produced just 2,800 units in 2001.

08/27/02 13:22 EDT

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Wirt Atmar

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