Ok, so I know I'm old. In fact, I'm older than most people on the planet - I passed that threshold about 15 years ago! Anyway... I remember when "walkman" was everyday speak for "portable music player". Of course, back then it meant you had a cassette tape, but Sony, the maker of the Walkman, was the undisputed leader of the portable music player. Yes, it came in different sizes and bright colours and yes, all the cool people had one.

Then the world changed, but Sony didn't see it coming. Portable music players went digital and after a while, Apple joined the party and brought with it a new word for portabe music player - "ipod". The ipod now owns 70% of the market, while Sony has a mere 2% (even less than the Zune!). See http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/zoom/html/2008167480.html 

While Sony were trying to perfect their cassette players, others came along with something totally different. Of course, it wasn't just the technology that made the difference. There were many digital music players before Apple grabbed the limelight and the customers. The iPod success is a the classic Tipping Point example (see http://www.gladwell.com/tippingpoint/) but to me it really highlights that it's more important to understand your customer than your technology, your strategy or your results from last year.