In 1979, just months before Anderson’s presentation about quality problems in American chips, Sony introduced the Walkman, a portable music player that revolutionized the music industry, incorporating five of the company’s cutting-edge integrated circuits in each device. Now teenagers the world over could carry their favorite music in their pockets, powered by integrated circuits that had been pioneered in Silicon Valley but developed in Japan. Sony sold 385 million units worldwide, making the Walkman one of the most popular consumer devices in history. This was innovation at its purest, and
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