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It was introduced on July 1, 1979 and by the end of that August, sales had increased 10-fold. Over its 30 year history, Sony sold 200 million units. From Gizmodo:
In reality, the cassette Walkman died many years ago because of the CD player (or Discman), not the iPod. But the Walkman's dominance in the portable music player market died because of Sony's mistakes in betting on losing technology and not tying the portable experience with easy to use desktop software. Those missteps gave way for the iPod. So really, having the Walkman's officially die on the anniversary of the iPod's birth couldn't be any more perfect.
What's next - jumpsuits?
Mark Lacter created the LA Biz Observed blog in 2006. He posted
until the day before his death on Nov. 13, 2013.