> Perpendicular recording was later used by Toshiba in 3.5" floppy disks in 1989 to permit 2.88 MB of capacity (ED or extra-high density), but they failed to succeed in the marketplace.
Adding a little capability (in this case permitting finer stepping) and letting software guys figure it out was often the way to great new abilities.
I often think about tiny little changes to old hardware that would have been an insignificant cost but added great functionality. Like a 4 bit latch xored with the rgbi output of CGA would have enabled a huge gain in what colour options were available. It would only be a few gates. You would still only have 320x200 in four colours but the colours available wouldn't melt your eyes.
The floppy standard failed, but it became the norm in hard disk drives as soon as the patent on the special rwhead that was needed for it expired.