Answer me this do you remember the Beta format? If you do not it was a format really called the Betamax which is the 1/2 inch home videocassette tape recording format introduced on April 16, 1975. It was introduced by Sony which now has a popular new format you might know. For more info on BLU RAY format look at my previous entry.
The VHS format's defeat of the Betamax format became a classic marketing case study. Sony's attempt to dictate an industry standard backfired when JVC made the tactical decision to forgo Sony's offer of Betamax in favor of developing their own technology. They felt that it would end up like the U-Matic deal, with Sony dominating.
One of the down falls of the Beta format was the fact that it denied the pornography industry the right to use it. JVC's VHS made a deal with the industry and eventually became the sales leader. Even though it is not known yet the deals that Sony has made with countless companies may be the key to its current and possibly future dominance.
What we will learn from the current format war is yet to be known but who really care billion dollar business will most likely always control our lives and the government will never do anything about it.
THANKS FOR YOUR EARS AND EYES
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I've never heard of the Beta Format before now. I don't know if partially it's due to my age and the fact that it sounds like something that someone who majored in marketing in school would learn about. At the same time, I feel embarassed to say that I have never heard of Betamax before today since I am majoring in film production.
I think an interesting study in the market of entertainment would be music and it's formats.
Cassettes beat out 8 tracks, but vinyl's popularity didn't markedly diminish until the CD
The advent of digital music, and digital music stores was expected to eliminate the Compact Disc, however sales of music CD's are higher than they ever were!