Another example he remembered from his own life was the transistor radio that Sony marketed in the nineteen-fifties. It was a terrible radio, you could barely make out the music for the static, and it had no chance of competing against the nice big RCA or Zenith consoles that middle-class families had on tables in their living rooms. But the transistors succeeded wildly at the bottom of the market, with the rebar of humanity: teen-agers. For teen-agers at that time, the alternative was nothing, and the transistor was better than that. Then, gradually, the transistors got better, and, by the time they got good enough to interest grownups, RCA and Zenith were too far behind to catch up. The same thing was happening now with phone cameras: when they first appeared, they took terrible pictures, but they were so convenient that people used them anyway, and over time they got better. Christensen called these low-end products “disruptive technologies,” because, rather than sustaining technological progress toward better performance, they disrupted it.
The rebar of humanity! Great line by the writer of this profile, Larissa MacFarquhar. I wonder if she's related to Roderick MacFarquhar. Has to be. That's such an uncommon name.
Oh God, those frigging transistor radios. They WERE awful. They were the rebar of telecommunication.
So the original transistor radio companies were not RCA and Zenith? They were Rebar-tronics or something? And Rebartronics ate RCA and Zenith's lunch? RCA and Zenith stayed in business, didn't they? Rebartronics didn't eat all their lunch. But, is the rest of that true? I don't trust a guy who can see into the future. ...Une momento por favor whilst I look up transistor radios...
Hey. Okay:
"So the original transistor radio companies were not RCA and Zenith?"
The Regency TR-1 was announced on October 18, 1954 by the Regency Division of I.D.E.A., was put on sale in November 1954...One year after the release of the TR-1 sales approached the 100,000 mark.
In February 1955 the second transistor radio, the 8-TP-1, was introduced by Raytheon.
Following the success of the 8-TP-1, Zenith, RCA, DeWald, and Crosley began flooding the market with additional transistor radio models.
Raytheon is still in business, RCA is out of business but when RCA when out of business is confusing (to me). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCA#Origins
1971? But:
RCA was still profitable in 1983...
1986?
Business and financial conditions led to RCA's takeover by GE in 1986 and its subsequent break-up.
Whenever it was, it was not in the 1950's or even the 1960's and there is NOTHING in Wikipedia's entry about RCA getting its lunch ate over the transistor radios. But it may take DECADES for the disruption to be seen. No.
Zenith is still in business as Zenith Electronics LLC. It was bought out by LG Electronics in 1999. As with RCA, there is no mention of the transistor radio in Wikipedia's entry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenith_Electronics. But it may take DECADES...Go away, Christensen.
Somebody had to have gotten their lunch eaten there, by Texas Instruments or worthy IDEA. TI is still in business but the IDEA-of-the-transistor-idea is apparently kaput. There's an IDEA-Pakistan but no IDEA-Indianapolis.
The answer to my second question is no.
Christensen, go away.
The rebar of humanity! Great line by the writer of this profile, Larissa MacFarquhar. I wonder if she's related to Roderick MacFarquhar. Has to be. That's such an uncommon name.
Oh God, those frigging transistor radios. They WERE awful. They were the rebar of telecommunication.
So the original transistor radio companies were not RCA and Zenith? They were Rebar-tronics or something? And Rebartronics ate RCA and Zenith's lunch? RCA and Zenith stayed in business, didn't they? Rebartronics didn't eat all their lunch. But, is the rest of that true? I don't trust a guy who can see into the future. ...Une momento por favor whilst I look up transistor radios...
Hey. Okay:
"So the original transistor radio companies were not RCA and Zenith?"
Two companies working together, Texas Instruments of Dallas, Texas and Industrial Development Engineering Associates (I.D.E.A.) of Indianapolis, Indiana, were behind the unveiling of the Regency TR-1, the world's first commercially produced transistor radio.
The answer to my first question is yes.
"I.D.E.A.?" Oh, Industrial Development Engineering Associates. Twee.
"And Rebartronics ate RCA and Zenith's lunch?"
"And Rebartronics ate RCA and Zenith's lunch?"
That's only four months after TI and IDEA's idea. HELD: Raytheon was one of the "original transistor radio companies." AND, Raytheon is still in business. They didn't get their lunch ate either. But, Christensen would say Raytheon was a "disruptor," see? RCA, Zenith, what do you have for lunch? Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.
Raytheon is still in business, RCA is out of business but when RCA when out of business is confusing (to me). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCA#Origins
1971? But:
RCA was still profitable in 1983...
1986?
Business and financial conditions led to RCA's takeover by GE in 1986 and its subsequent break-up.
Whenever it was, it was not in the 1950's or even the 1960's and there is NOTHING in Wikipedia's entry about RCA getting its lunch ate over the transistor radios. But it may take DECADES for the disruption to be seen. No.
Zenith is still in business as Zenith Electronics LLC. It was bought out by LG Electronics in 1999. As with RCA, there is no mention of the transistor radio in Wikipedia's entry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenith_Electronics. But it may take DECADES...Go away, Christensen.
Somebody had to have gotten their lunch eaten there, by Texas Instruments or worthy IDEA. TI is still in business but the IDEA-of-the-transistor-idea is apparently kaput. There's an IDEA-Pakistan but no IDEA-Indianapolis.
The answer to my second question is no.
