Sony's cassette Walkman, the flagship product of Japan's electronics industry, will retire into history. On December 11, Sony announced their decision to discontinue the production of Walkman cassette players next year. The Walkman will disappear from the market after 33 years since it first debuted in 1979.

The cassette Walkman is the product that announced the resurrection of Japan to the world after its defeat in World War II. You could carry a Walkman in your pocket or wear it on your waist. It was extremely popular in the 1980s and 1990s because of its excellent portability, and at the time it was considered more innovative than Apple's iPhone is now.

In 1999, sales of the Walkman alone recorded 900 billion yen (11.7 trillion won), contributing greatly to Sony and to the Japanese economy. The Japanese people revealed their pride by saying, "Although we lost the war, we have conquered the U.S. mainland with the Walkman."

However, with the arrival of CD players and MP3 players in the mid-1990s, the cassette Walkman began its decline. In addition, the advent of the smartphone virtually made the cassette tape obsolete.

Sony explained, "We had produced a small volume until this year, because of some demand for language education, but will cease production due to the significant loss of marketability. However, the Walkman name will be preserved in other products such as MP3 players."

Sony, which was the world's number one producer of television sets, has continued to crumble under the competition from Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics. A source from Korea's electronics industry said, "The end of the cassette Walkman seems to symbolize the retreat of Sony and Japan's electronics industry."