Sam Jaffe, Navigant Research

Rechargeable lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries were first developed as a commercial product by Sony in 1991, to solve a specific problem with the company’s video cameras.  The typical video camera of the time had evolved from a professional beast that sat on the videographer’s shoulder to something that could fit into the palm of the hand, but the nickel cadmium batteries that were available were so large that the devices had an unsightly and hard-to-hold bulge thanks to the bulky battery pack.  Read more about The Lithium Ion Inflection Point …