Sony and Philips were two monsters trying to compete for the format to replace the stunningly successful compact cassette—a Philips idea that succeeded because the manufacturing specifications were so detailed that any player/recorder made anywhere in the world could play and record any cassette made anywhere else in the world, reliably and every time. Philips charged a small per unit fee to manufacturers. Imagine the revenue from any fee where every single (non-grey market) cassette player and cassette sold resulted in a small payment to Philips over the 25 year patent protection period.
Sony produced the Elcassette and then the minidisc and Phillips answered with the DCC (digital compact cassette) which had the advantage of being backward compatible with the standard cassette. A DCC player could play an analog cassette.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Compact_CassetteEvery other manufacturer wanted to establish a superior format to get in on that action—RCA, in particular who had flopped in the attempts to establish a couple of formats—the 33.3 and 45 rpm 7" disc intended to be the next big thing after the 78, and the 'Selectavision' videodisc—a stylus-read vinyl disc competing with Philips Laserdisc, a 12" disc looking like a huge thick CD and the precursor to the DVD.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitance_Electronic_DiscRCA actually ruined the market for the Laserdisc by undercutting them in price and leaving a sour taste in the mouths of the consumer who were suckered into buying them, then discovering the severe limitations compared to the more expensive Laserdisc which could be paused, advanced frame by frame, had much better video quality and no wear, not to speak of the lack of an expensive, delicate stylus and tendency to skip. The consumer did not know the difference before buying, then was quickly left with a paperweight with a very small number of titles available.
Finally, it took two giants—Philips and Sony—to collaborate and triumph with the compact disc.
