After many people praised the good sound quality evaluation, under the leadership of Akio Morita, SONY began to launch the Walkman in July 1979.

When Akio Morita was knighted in October 1992, the headline in the British newspapers The Sun and The Daily Telegraph was "Arise, Sir Sony Walkman" [Doing Cultural Studies: The Story of the Sony Walkman, Paul du Gay][1] The Compact Cassette was developed by the Dutch electronics firm Philips and released in August 1963.

In the 1970s, Brazilian inventor Andreas Pavel devised a method for carrying a player of this type on a belt around the waist, listening via headphones, but his "Stereobelt" concept did not include the required engineering advancements to yield high-quality sound reproduction while the tape player was subject to mechanical shock as would be expected on a person walking.

[11][12] Finally in 2003, with Pavel threatening to file infringement proceedings in the remaining territories where he held protective rights, Sony approached him with a view to settling the matter amicably, which led to both parties signing a contract and confidentiality agreement in 2004.

The settlement was reported to be a cash payment in the "low eight figures" and ongoing royalties of the sale of certain Walkman models.

He asked the executive deputy president Norio Ohga to design a playback-only stereo version optimized for walking.

The metal-cased blue-and-silver Walkman TPS-L2, the world's first low-cost personal stereo, went on sale in Japan on July 1, 1979, and was sold for around ¥33,000 (or $150.00).

In 1981 Sony released the second Walkman model, the WM-2, which was significantly smaller than the TPS-L2 thanks to the "inverse" mounting of the power-operated magnetic head and soft-touch buttons.

[21] Two limited edition 10th anniversary models were released in 1989 (WM-701S/T) in Japan, made of brass and plated in sterling silver.

[31] The marketing of the Walkman helped introduce the idea of "Japanese-ness" into global culture, synonymous with miniaturization and high-technology.

[33] Sony implemented a marketing strategy, hiring young adults to walk around in public wearing a Walkman, offering nearby people to test out the product.

The ability to play one's personal choice of music and listen privately was a huge selling point of the Walkman, especially amongst teens, who greatly contributed to its success.

[10] Other firms, including Aiwa, Panasonic and Toshiba, produced similar products, and in 1983 cassettes outsold vinyl for the first time.

This caused safety controversies in the US, which in 1982 led to the mayor of Woodbridge, New Jersey banning Walkman from being worn in public due to pedestrian accidents.

[6] A large statue of a Sports Walkman FM was erected in Tokyo's Ginza district in 2019 in celebration of the 40th anniversary.

[45] Most future models would use built-in solid-state flash memory, although hard disk based players were also released from 2004 to 2007.

Rival Apple's iPod range became a large success in the market,[52] hindering Walkman sales internationally,[53][54] though it fared better domestically.

[48] Its pricing policy, SonicStage software and lack of MP3 support in earlier years have been suggested factors of its performance.