neat tech history thing we learned (video cassette format war)
neat thing we just learned: part of the reason betamax failed is because sony had weird stipulations about who was allowed to sell betamax VCRs
unlike the various manufacturers of VHS VCRs, they didn't allow anyone to rebrand their machines, whereas in the 1980s it was apparently popular for video rental places to rebrand VCRs that they would also rent out (because buying one was expensive), so they weren't interested in the sony ones they weren't allowed to rebrand
also, stores that *sold* betamax VCRs had to do so under a contract that said they would also sell other sony electronics, which meant that for retailers who weren't already selling sony tvs and stuff, getting into selling betamax was a more expensive proposition than getting into selling vhs or even v2000
-F?/R?
all that comes together to mean that sony basically ruined their chances of success by being too greedy, which is something they've done more than once
-F
neat tech history thing we learned (video cassette format war)
@Felthry Companies sure try to demand huge concessions in a market they're just breaking into a nonzero amount of times huh
Why do they keep doing that