[DB]

VHS won because Sony owned the rights to Betamax and refused to let others make it without a steep royalty. VHS came out to get around Sony's patents. Several companies adopted VHS and prices fell well below what Sony was able to offered Betamax for and that's all she wrote.

[E Rocc]

VHS won because Sony owned the rights to Betamax and refused to let others make it without a steep royalty

Betamax and Apple lost their initial fights for similar reasons, actually. They got too greedy.

Both are examples of why capitalism is an effective anti-monopoly tool.

-Eric