Kinda...
The story (of Betamax) is a bit more complicated than that, the main reason of why it failed is that Sony did not understand the market where it was selling.
Also, the thing about Betamax having superior quality is a bit overblown, while Betamax at speed 1 (or A, I don't remember what it was called) DID have better quality, nobody used it! (and Sony discontinued quite quickly, favouring speed 2 and 3) since the recording time was so low.
(also the professional Betamax format is a completely different beast from the consumer one, at some point it switched to being digital)
Sony have always made strange decisions surrounding storage. Not selling Minidisc as a floppy drive successor, when the competition was gigantic ZIP discs, was a biggie. (I am aware of the NetMD etc, I had one)
Also, the thing about Betamax having superior quality is a bit overblown, while Betamax at speed 1 (or A, I don't remember what it was called) DID have better quality, nobody used it! (and Sony discontinued quite quickly, favouring speed 2 and 3) since the recording time was so low.
(also the professional Betamax format is a completely different beast from the consumer one, at some point it switched to being digital)