Sony ends floppy disk production
Sony has announced that from March 2011 it will discontinue sales of the classic storage system in Japan.
The company introduced the 3.5 inch floppy disk size to the world in 1981 and began sales in Japan in 1983. The firm said that it had shipped somewhere in the region of 47 million disks within the country at its peak in 2000. That number is said to have fallen to 8.5 million in 2009.
Lack of demand is behind the move, which isn’t surprising considering the rapid growth in other storage formats such as CDs, DVDs, and USB drives.
All sales will cease in Japan by March 2011 and aside from a few niche markets (such as in India) the company will no longer actively sell the disks.
Sony's website lists the floppy as ‘temporarily unavailable’ but says of the product: “Invented by Sony in 1980, the Micro Floppy Disc with a capacity of 1.44MB remains a popular choice for the simple exchange of small files".
Worldwide sales ended last month.
1.44MB! It seems wrong that we all walk around with anything up to 64GB in our pockets without even thinking about it. If you’ve got any fond memories of the floppy, get them off your chest in the comments section below.
