■Portable music player
■£3299
We just happened to be reading a Steve Jobs biography the other day. Among all the interesting insights and anecdotes, we came across a story about the original Apple iPod. It is said that, throughout the development of this landmark music player, Jobs feared that Sony would get to market first with this type of product.
It is easy to understand his logic. The Japanese brand had obvious expertise in audio and computing, and what is a personal music player if not a portable computer dedicated to sound; but crucially it was also a music company. Factor in the allure of the hugely successful Walkman sub-brand, and Sony, perhaps uniquely of all the electronics giants, already possessed everything it needed to produce a machine to rival the iPod and develop the ecosystem needed to make it work.
History shows that Sony didn’t join
