Fred Kaplan bids a fond farewell to the Walkman. Many years ago, I attended a lecture by Akio Morita, its inventor and a very wise man, indeed. He explained that everyone had arguments why his idea of a personal cassette tape player was a bad idea and why all sorts of market research said it wouldn't work. The way he told the tale, he said, "Well, I think it's a good idea" and went ahead anyway. I'm not sure that's always a commendable way to do business but it sure paid off in this case.