Apple fails in the 1980s

You'd likely see Sony being the largest MP3 player manufacturer, but there not being a major "music store" as different record labels make their own digital music stores. As a result, music piracy is even more pronounced than OTL.

Sony were very slow off the mark with MP3. For years they insisted on their own format that wasn't compatible with anything else.

By the time they gave in, they'd been left behind in the dust.

It's interesting, on paper, Sony should be Apple, more so even; history in the industry, they already own content etc. But the reality is the company is so divided and fractured, it never works together. I recall a story about its music division trying to sue a digital radio station that it turned out was actually owned by Sony!


As to who could replace Apple, it needs to be a brand that could become 'cool' or already was. Sony as a brand fits that, HP, Creative Zen and the other tech companies around at the time perhaps not.

I guess the other notable impact is that 'iSomething' may never be a thing, which would change the branding of a lot of stuff potentially, from my daftly named iTrim shaver to BMW's i division.
 
Top