God save the King

 

Sailing has been the traditional way of transportation by sea for ages. From small fishing boats to heavy galleons, all countries and all cultures have used it throughout History.

By the end of 19th Century, traditional sailing vessels gave way to steamers, and nowadays we even use nuclear power to propel ships, and classical sails have almost disappeared from our seas and oceans.

Replacing sails with steam engines was more than a mere change of technology. Sails and taking advantage of winds was a technology specifically designed for getting people and cargo over the waters to different destinations. Other than that, there was hardly any other use of wind or sails specifically for transportation (windmills do use wind and sails, but certainly not for transportation).

On the contrary, steam engines where not originally intended for ships or boats. The original target was being able to transform energy coming from burning coal into mechanical energy that could be used in many different ways. One of them was, actually, moving propellers in a boat, but as well it could be used to move a cart and, thus, opening room for the inventions of the train and cars, for example.

By the end of 2010, another technology has apparently been declared officially dead. Sony has recently announced the end of their manufacturing of good-old Walkman devices based on cassette tapes.

Far from being a mere change of technology, it’s apparent heir, the iPod, has been a complete revolution. From electromagnetic tape with a mechanical basis specifically designed for audio, we now have silicon-based chips to reproduce all sorts of multimedia content in an interconnected environment. The technology underneath an iPod was not either designed specifically for audio, no matter audio is just one of its applications.

Therefore, we believe iPod is not just the heir of Walkman. Discman was the heir of the declining product line. iPod is a complete change of dynasty. Not only has occupied the natural market space of Walkman; it has broadened it and its potential is such that many more competitors to iPod have appeared than Walkman ever had.

And nothing of this happened by chance… It takes much more than pure chance to replace a dynasty: Incoming Kings of the new one need to will it, plan it, execute it.

The King is dead; God save the King!