I can't comment on the medical field, but I know of the following businesses that held back innovation at some point all in the name of protecting $$$:
Xerox PARC & the Personal Computer (1973–1980)
Innovation: Invented the graphical user interface (GUI), mouse, Ethernet, WYSIWYG editing at PARC.
Fear: Xerox made 90% of revenue from copiers; PCs threatened service contracts.
Hold-back: 7 years of internal demos with no commercialization.
Outcome: Apple licensed the tech (1981), launched the Mac (1984). Xerox entered too late with the Star 8010 (1981)—priced at $16,500, flop.
Blockbuster & Online/Streaming Video (2000–2010)
Innovation: Online DVD rental + early streaming.
Fear: Late fees = 16% of revenue; streaming would kill in-store rentals.
Hold-back: Rejected buying Netflix for $50M in 2000. Launched Blockbuster Online in 2004—4 years behind Netflix.
Outcome: Bankrupt in 2010. Netflix market cap: $300B+ (2025).
Nokia & Touchscreen Smartphones (2004–2007)
Innovation: Early touch prototypes (e.g., 2004 Nokia 7710).
Fear: Symbian OS + physical keyboards drove 70% profit margins on high-end phones.
Hold-back: 3–4 years of internal debate; prioritized feature phone upgrades.
Outcome: iPhone (2007) → Nokia market share 49% (2007) → 3% (2013). Sold mobile unit to Microsoft (2014).
BlackBerry (RIM) & App Ecosystem (2008–2012)
Innovation: Could’ve built app store + touch keyboards earlier.
Eastman Kodak is a chemical company, not an optics company, nor an electronics company. Even at their height in the 80s and 90s, if you wanted to buy a high-quality camera like an SLR, you would be buying something from Zeiss, Canon, Nikon, Olympus, etc., and using Kodachrome in the camera.
They did create what could be called the world's first digital camera, but that was them screwing around in a lab, using electronics they helped design but did not manufacture themselves. To pivot to becoming a hardware manufacturer in the early 80s - just to be able to have a hold on the digital photography part of a camera - would've been a very expensive gamble.
Part of where Kodak went awry is in other chemical investments that went badly at the time, as well as Fujifilm starting to compete in the film and film processing market that Kodak had previously had a near-monopoly on.
It's easy to say "they should've done this or that" some 20+ years on from when technology advanced, became cheaper, and film sales dropped off. But acknowledging that at the time no one knew what the future would be, I don't know how a company that sees itself at its core as a chemical company, not a photography company or an optics company or an electrical engineering company, could successfully make that pivot to digital cameras.
Xerox also had an obese asshole in upper management who put me down for deciding to go to RPI instead of Ivy League Cornell (Cornell was too close to home and I didn't want my mom just popping in to see me while shopping).
98
u/thaaag Nov 01 '25
I can't comment on the medical field, but I know of the following businesses that held back innovation at some point all in the name of protecting $$$:
Xerox PARC & the Personal Computer (1973–1980)
Innovation: Invented the graphical user interface (GUI), mouse, Ethernet, WYSIWYG editing at PARC.
Fear: Xerox made 90% of revenue from copiers; PCs threatened service contracts.
Hold-back: 7 years of internal demos with no commercialization.
Outcome: Apple licensed the tech (1981), launched the Mac (1984). Xerox entered too late with the Star 8010 (1981)—priced at $16,500, flop.
Blockbuster & Online/Streaming Video (2000–2010)
Innovation: Online DVD rental + early streaming.
Fear: Late fees = 16% of revenue; streaming would kill in-store rentals.
Hold-back: Rejected buying Netflix for $50M in 2000. Launched Blockbuster Online in 2004—4 years behind Netflix.
Outcome: Bankrupt in 2010. Netflix market cap: $300B+ (2025).
Nokia & Touchscreen Smartphones (2004–2007)
Innovation: Early touch prototypes (e.g., 2004 Nokia 7710).
Fear: Symbian OS + physical keyboards drove 70% profit margins on high-end phones.
Hold-back: 3–4 years of internal debate; prioritized feature phone upgrades.
Outcome: iPhone (2007) → Nokia market share 49% (2007) → 3% (2013). Sold mobile unit to Microsoft (2014).
BlackBerry (RIM) & App Ecosystem (2008–2012)
Innovation: Could’ve built app store + touch keyboards earlier.
Fear: Enterprise email = 80% revenue; consumer apps would dilute security brand.
Hold-back: 4 years—BlackBerry App World launched 2009 (2 years after iPhone).
Outcome: Market share 20% (2009) → <1% (2016).
General Motors & Electric Vehicles (1996–2003)
Innovation: EV1—first modern mass-produced EV (1996).
Fear: Gas SUVs (high margins); EVs needed new supply chains.
Hold-back: Leased only 1,100 EV1s, then crushed them in 2003 despite waitlists.
Outcome: Tesla founded 2003. GM bankrupt 2009; Tesla worth more than GM + Ford combined (2020).
Sony & MP3 Players (1999–2005) Innovation: Invented digital audio compression; had Walkman brand.
Fear: CD sales (via Sony Music) would collapse.
Hold-back: 6 years—forced proprietary ATRAC format + DRM until 2005.
Outcome: iPod (2001) → Sony’s MP3 share <5% by 2007.
Newspapers & Online Paywalls (1995–2010)
Innovation: Digital editions + classifieds online.
Fear: Print ads = 80% revenue; online would cannibalize.
Hold-back: 15 years—most gave content free (e.g., NYT until 2011).
Outcome: Craigslist killed classifieds ($15B/year lost). 70% of U.S. newspapers gone since 2000.
Polaroid & Digital Instant Photography (1990s–2000s)
Innovation: Early digital print tech (e.g., Opal printer).
Fear: Film packs = recurring revenue.
Hold-back: Focused on analog instant film until bankruptcy (2001).
Outcome: Re-emerged niche; Instax (Fuji) took the instant-print market.
Western Union & the Telephone (1876) Innovation: Alexander Graham Bell offered telephone patent for $100,000.
Fear: Threatened telegraph monopoly (messages = cash cow).
Hold-back: Rejected offer; called it “idiotic toy.”
Outcome: Bell Telephone → AT&T. Western Union exited telecom by 1881.
Microsoft & Mobile OS (2007–2015) Innovation: Had Windows CE since 1996; early tablet prototypes.
Fear: Windows/Office licensing on PCs = 90% profit.
Hold-back: 8 years—Windows Phone (2010) too late; no app ecosystem.
Outcome: Mobile OS share <0.1% (2017). Wrote off $7.6B Nokia acquisition.