P/M/40. Analysis of marketing strategy for Sony and its mini-discs

Sony has changed the way that the world listens to music. They introduced the Walkman, the Compact Disc and now the MiniDisc. Developed in the late 80s the MD was introduced into Japan in 1992 that saw an instant success. The same year the MD was introduced into the United States . The MiniDisc was a product that was new to the world. It was the first time that that 74 minutes of music could be recorded then re-recorded over and over again without losing any of its near perfect digital sound quality, on 2 ? inches. The target market in 1992 was described as the €MTV Generation but the MD failed to impress and was therefore re-launched in 1994. The main reason for failure here was due to very high prices and not enough information to the public that the MD was not a replacement for the CD, which had just been introduced, but a replacement for the cassette. It was then re-launched again in 1996 and again in 1998. The target market was defined as 18-34 year olds with a higher than average income, who purchased more than twelve CDs per year. With each re-launch prices fell greatly. The main reasons for the failure of the MD in America were the high prices and the product launch. Sony then had to spend millions and millions of dollars trying to convince its target market- the young, cool people of the USA that the MD was the way of the future. However, competition from the likes of the MP3 player has seen Sony introduce a cable called the PC-to-MD that allows PC users to download their digital music stored on their computers onto a MD. Also new long play MDs mean that 340 minutes of music can be stored onto the same 2 ? inches of plastic.