82-493: Xacti is a brand of Sanyo hybrid digital camera and camcorder . They use a distinct pistol-shaped format with most controls operated by the thumb and able to shoot both video and picture simultaneously. The range of models includes high definition cameras, waterproof cameras and cameras using the H.264 video codec . SANYO DI Solutions Co., Ltd. changed its name to Xacti Corporation in May 2013. This camera-related article
164-765: A 51% majority stake in Chinese company Hefei Royalstar Sanyo, a 2000 joint venture between Sanyo and Chinese government investment company Hefei, was purchased by American multinational manufacturer Whirlpool Corporation for $ 552 million. The Sanyo HIT ( Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer ) solar cell is composed of a mono thin crystalline silicon wafer surrounded by ultra-thin amorphous silicon layers. Sanyo Energy opened its solar module assembly plants in Hungary and in Mexico in 2004, and in 2006 it produced solar modules worth $ 213 million. In 2007, Sanyo completed
246-664: A 70 percent share of the market when it decided to pull the plug on the format in 2010. Sony still develops magnetic tape storage technologies along with IBM , and are one of only two manufacturers of Linear Tape-Open (LTO) cartridges. In 1998, Sony launched the Memory Stick format, the flash memory cards for use in Sony lines of digital cameras and portable music players. It has seen little support outside of Sony's own products, with Secure Digital cards (SD) commanding considerably greater popularity. Sony has made updates to
328-453: A Super Famicom with a built-in CD-ROM drive, named the "Play Station" (also known as SNES-CD ). However, a day after the announcement at CES, Nintendo announced that it would be breaking its partnership with Sony, opting to go with Philips instead but using the same technology. The deal was broken by Nintendo after they were unable to come to an agreement on how revenue would be split between
410-783: A completely separate financial entity owned by Sony, so as to retain the project and maintain relationships with Philips for the MMCD development project (which helped lead to the creation of the DVD ) In 2021, the WIPO 's annual review of the World Intellectual Property Indicators report ranked Sony's as ninth in the world for the number of patent applications published under the PCT System . 1,793 patent applications were published by Sony during 2020. This position
492-624: A department store building in the Nihonbashi area of Tokyo . The company started with a capital of ¥190,000 and a total of eight employees. On 7 May 1946, Ibuka was joined by Akio Morita to establish a company called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo ( 東京通信工業 , Tōkyō Tsūshin Kōgyō , Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation) . The company built Japan's first tape recorder , called the Type-G. In 1958,
574-419: A financial crisis as a result of its huge investment in the semiconductor business. In 2009, Sanyo was acquired by Panasonic, and in 2011, it was fully consolidated into Panasonic and its brand disappeared. The company still exists as a legal entity for the purpose of winding up its affairs. Sanyo was founded when Toshio Iue , the brother-in-law of Konosuke Matsushita and also a former Matsushita employee,
656-482: A five-month course during which they eat together and sleep together in accommodation. They learn everything from basic job requirements to company expectations for personal grooming and the appropriate way in which to dress for their co-workers and superiors. Technologically, Sanyo has had good ties with Sony , supporting the Betamax video format from invention until the mid-1980s (the best selling video recorder in
738-457: A focus on reducing the major losses from the television business. In February 2014, Sony announced the sale of its Vaio PC division to a new corporation owned by investment fund Japan Industrial Partners and spinning its TV division into its own corporation as to make it more nimble to turn the unit around from past losses totaling $ 7.8 billion over a decade. Later that month, they announced that they would be closing 20 stores. In April,
820-513: A format war with DVD-Audio . Still, neither gained a major foothold with the general public. CDs had been preferred by consumers because of the ubiquitous presence of CD drives in consumer devices until the early 2000s when the iPod and streaming services became available. In 2015, Sony introduced LDAC , a proprietary audio coding technology which allows streaming high-resolution audio over Bluetooth connections at up to 990 kbit/s at 32 bit/96 kHz. Sony also contributed it as part of
902-561: A former NHK anchorwoman who was appointed chairwoman of the company, stepped down in March 2007. The President, Toshimasa Iue, also stepped down in April of that year; Seiichiro Sano was appointed to head the company effective April 2007. In October 2007, Sanyo cancelled a 110 billion yen sale of its semiconductor business, blaming the global credit crisis for the decision and stating that after exploring its other options, it had decided to keep
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#1732787503559984-452: A joint company, known as Sanyo Eneos Solar Co., Ltd., for the production and sale of thin-film solar panels . The new joint company began production and sales at an initial scale of 80 MW, while gradually increasing its production capacity. For this joint project, Sanyo drew on its solar cell technologies, based on the technology acquired through the development of the HIT solar cell. Sanyo
1066-480: A name such as Sony Electronic Industries, or Sony Teletech. Akio Morita was firm, however, as he did not want the company name tied to any particular industry. Eventually, both Ibuka and Mitsui Bank's chairman gave their approval. According to Schiffer, Sony's TR-63 radio "cracked open the U.S. market and launched the new industry of consumer microelectronics." By the mid-1950s, American teens had begun buying portable transistor radios in huge numbers, helping to propel
1148-466: A new unit at its solar module plant in Hungary that was to triple its annual capacity to 720,000 units in 2008. Plans to expand production were based on rising demands for Sanyo Hungary products, whose leading markets are Germany , Italy , Spain and Scandinavia . The plant at Dorog , outside Budapest , became Sanyo's largest solar module production facility in the world. Germany, Italy, Spain and
1230-667: A part of any traditional keiretsu , Sony has a weak tie to the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG), which traces its roots to the Mitsui zaibatsu . This connection dates back to the 1950s when it was the only bank the company dealt with. Sony is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (in which it is a constituent of the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX Core30 indeces) with an additional listing in
1312-580: A purchase of the Fisher Electronics audio equipment manufacturer by Sanyo in May 1975. Under Ladd's leadership, the Fisher Corporation under Sanyo grew to be a multi-million dollar leader in the consumer electronics industry . The new, profitable Fisher Corporation moved its headquarters from New York to Ladd's Los Angeles. Ladd was named president and CEO of the combined Sanyo / Fisher Corporation in 1977, serving until 1987. Ladd
1394-703: A range of Android TV sets known as the Sanyo Kaizen Series. Sanyo worked with Energy Efficiency Services Limited to develop a 1.5-ton inverter air conditioner (AC) with an Indian Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (ISEER) of 5.2. Distribution of these air conditioners began in September 2017. On April 4, 2019, Sanyo launched a new AC range exclusively on Amazon . Though founded in Japan, Sanyo has sold TVs in America for over 50 years; Sanyo TV USA
1476-731: A slogan known as "make.believe" in 2009. Despite some successes, the company faced continued struggles in the mid- to late-2000s. In 2012, Kazuo Hirai was promoted to president and CEO, replacing Stringer. Shortly thereafter, Hirai outlined his company-wide initiative, named "One Sony" to revive Sony from years of financial losses and bureaucratic management structure, which proved difficult for former CEO Stringer to accomplish, partly due to differences in business culture and native languages between Stringer and some of Sony's Japanese divisions and subsidiaries. Hirai outlined three major areas of focus for Sony's electronics business, which include imaging technology, gaming and mobile technology, as well as
1558-570: A wholly owned subsidiary through a takeover bid. On 1 April 2021, Sony Corporation was renamed Sony Group Corporation. On the same day, Sony Mobile Communications Inc. absorbed Sony Electronics Corporation, Sony Imaging Products & Solutions Inc., and Sony Home Entertainment & Sound Products Inc. and changed its trade name to Sony Corporation. Sony has historically been notable for creating its own in-house standards for new recording and storage technologies, instead of adopting those of other manufacturers and standards bodies, while its success in
1640-472: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Sanyo Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. ( 三洋電機株式会社 , San'yō Denki Kabushiki-gaisha ) is a Japanese electronics manufacturer founded in 1947 by Toshio Iue , the brother-in-law of Kōnosuke Matsushita , the founder of Matsushita Electric Industrial, now known as Panasonic . Iue left Matsushita Electric to start his own business, acquiring some of its equipment to produce bicycle generator lamps. In 1950,
1722-585: Is also responsible for the construction of the Solar Ark . Sanyo pioneered the production of nickel cadmium batteries in 1964, nickel metal hydride batteries (NiMh) in 1990, lithium-ion batteries in 1994, and lithium polymer batteries in 1999. In 2000, it acquired Toshiba 's NiMh business, including the Takasaki factory. Since the acquisition of Sanyo by Panasonic, ownership of the Takasaki factory
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#17327875035591804-505: Is largely offered in two forms, either chips embedded in smartphones or plastic cards with chips embedded in them. Sony plans to implement this technology in train systems across Asia. In 2019, Sony launched the ELTRES, the company's proprietary low-power wide-area wireless communication ( LPWAN ) standard. Until 1991, Sony had little direct involvement with the video game industry. The company supplied components for other consoles, such as
1886-443: Is organized into the following business segments: Game & Network Services (G&NS), Music, Pictures, Electronics Products & Solutions (EP&S), Imaging & Sensing Solutions (I&SS), Financial Services, and Others. Usually, each business segment has a handful of corresponding intermediate holding companies under which all the related businesses are folded into, such as Columbia Records being part of Sony Music Group ,
1968-573: Is up from their previous ranking as 13th in 2019 with 1,566 applications. Best known for its electronic products, Sony offers a wide variety of product lines in many areas. At its peak, it was dubbed as a "corporate octopus", for its sprawling ventures from private insurance to chemicals to cosmetics to home shopping to a Tokyo-based French food joint, in addition its core businesses such as electronics and entertainment. Even after it has unwound many business units including Sony Chemicals and Vaio PC, Sony still runs diverse businesses. As of 2020, Sony
2050-579: The ATRAC brand, against the more widely used MP3. Until late 2004, Sony's Network Walkman line of digital portable music players did not support the MP3 standard natively. In 2004, Sony built upon the MiniDisc format by releasing Hi-MD . Hi-MD allows the playback and recording of audio on newly introduced 1 GB Hi-MD discs in addition to playback and recording on regular MiniDiscs. In addition to saving audio on
2132-824: The Android Open Source Project starting from Android 8.0 " Oreo ", enabling every OEM to integrate this standard into their own Android devices freely. However the decoder library is proprietary , so receiving devices require licenses. On 17 September 2019, the Japan Audio Society (JAS) certified LDAC with their Hi-Res Audio Wireless certification. Currently the only codecs with the Hi-Res Audio Wireless certification are LDAC and LHDC , another competing standard. Sony demonstrated an optical digital audio disc in 1977 and soon joined hands with Philips, another major contender for
2214-635: The Crystal LED Display. Sony used the Compact Cassette format in many of its tape recorders and players, including the Walkman , the world's first portable music player. Sony introduced the MiniDisc format in 1992 as an alternative to Philips DCC or Digital Compact Cassette and as a successor to the Compact Cassette. Since the introduction of MiniDisc, Sony has attempted to promote its own audio compression technologies under
2296-544: The Eneloop Low self-discharge NiMH battery , a "hybrid" rechargeable NiMH ( Nickel-metal hydride battery ) which, unlike typical NiMH cells, can be used from-the-package without an initial recharge cycle and retain a charge significantly longer than batteries using standard NiMH battery design. The Eneloop line competes against similar products such as Rayovac 's "Hybrid Rechargeable" line. On November 24, 2006, Sanyo announced heavy losses and job cuts. Tomoyo Nonaka ,
2378-450: The TR-55 transistor radio , appeared in 1955, but the company name did not change to Sony until January 1958. At the time of the change, it was extremely unusual for a Japanese company to use Roman letters to spell its name instead of writing it in kanji . The move was not without opposition: TTK's principal bank at the time, Mitsui , had strong feelings about the name. They pushed for
2460-535: The Video8 format . Video8 and the follow-on hi-band Hi8 format became popular in the consumer camcorder market. In 1987 Sony launched the 4 mm DAT or Digital Audio Tape as a new digital audio tape standard. Sony held a patent for its proprietary Trinitron until 1996. Sony introduced the Triluminos Display, the company's proprietary color reproduction enhancing technology, in 2004, featured in
2542-495: The 1970s; annual sales grew from $ 71.4 million (equivalent to $ 520,078,000 in 2023) in 1972 to $ 855 million (equivalent to $ 3,994,071,000 in 2023) in 1978. After a fairly slow selling line in their own V-Cord video format, Sanyo adopted Sony 's Betamax video cassette format around 1977 with initial success, including SuperBeta and Beta Hi-Fi models. From around 1984 onwards, production switched entirely to VHS . In 1976, Sanyo expanded their North American presence with
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2624-659: The Executive Vice President and COO of Sanyo Corporation. Ladd introduced the Sanyo brand to the United States in 1970. The ambition to sell Sanyo products worldwide was realized in the mid-1970s after Sanyo introduced home audio equipment, car stereos and other consumer electronics to the North American market. The company embarked on a heavy television-based advertising campaign. Ladd negotiated
2706-523: The Memory Stick format with Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick Micro . The company has also released USB flash drive products, branded under the Micro Vault line. Sony introduced FeliCa , a contactless IC card technology primarily used in contactless payment , as a result of the company's joint development and commercialization of Near-Field Communication (NFC) with Philips. The standard
2788-684: The Sanyo name to the United States in the early 1970s. In 1982, Sanyo started selling the MBC-1000 series of CP/M computers. In 1983, it introduced the MBC-550 PC, the lowest-cost IBM PC compatible personal computer available at the time, but its lack of full compatibility drove Sanyo from the market and no follow-on models were released. An article on "Sanyo Style" written in 1992 described that Sanyo utilizes an extensive socialization process for new employees, so that they will be acclimatized to Sanyo's corporate culture. New employees take
2870-700: The Scandinavian countries. The plant at Dorog , outside Budapest , will be Sanyo Electric's largest facility producing solar modules in the entire world. In late September 2008, Sanyo announced its decision to build a manufacturing plant for solar ingots and wafers (the building blocks for silicon solar cells) in Inagi , Japan. The plant began operating in October 2009 and was to reach its full production capacity of 70 megawatts (MW) of solar wafers per year by April 2010. Sanyo and Nippon Oil decided to launch
2952-595: The TV's original remote is capable of browsing the service. Multiple models also have USB ports which allow for immediate photo sharing directly off the stick without any additional software/upgrades. In October 2014, Panasonic announced its intent to transfer the Sanyo TV unit to Funai in the US market in return for annual royalty payments. Funai is a major Walmart supplier that also supplies Philips and Emerson TV sets to
3034-824: The UK in 1983 was the Sanyo VTC5000), while producing the VHS video format at the same time for the Fisher brand during the early 1980s, and later being an early adopter of the highly successful Video8 camcorder format. More recently, though, Sanyo decided against supporting Sony's format, the Blu-ray Disc , and instead gave its backing to Toshiba 's HD DVD . This was ultimately unsuccessful, however, as Sony's Blu-ray triumphed. In North America, Sanyo manufactured CDMA cellular phones exclusively for Sprint 's Sprint PCS brand in
3116-536: The United States and for Bell Mobility in Canada. The 2004 Chūetsu earthquake severely damaged Sanyo's semiconductor plant and as a result Sanyo recorded a huge financial loss for that year. The 2005 fiscal year financial results saw a 205 billion yen net income loss. The same year the company announced a restructuring plan called the Sanyo Evolution Project, launching a new corporate vision to make
3198-412: The board. Eventually, Sony President Ohga decided to retain the project after being reminded by Kutaragi of the humiliation he suffered from Nintendo. Nevertheless, due to strong opposition from a majority present at the meeting as well as widespread internal opposition to the project by the older generation of Sony executives, Kutaragi and his team had to be shifted from Sony's headquarters to Sony Music ,
3280-522: The brand as a mix of two words: one was the Latin word " sonus ", which is the root of sonic and sound, and the other was " sonny ", a common slang term used in 1950s America to call a young boy. In 1950s Japan, "sonny boys" was a loan word in Japanese, which connoted smart and presentable young men, which Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka considered themselves to be. The first Sony-branded product,
3362-488: The business and develop it as part of its portfolio. In 2008, Sanyo's mobile phone division was acquired by Kyocera . On November 2, 2008, Sanyo and Panasonic announced that they have agreed on the main points of a proposed buyout that would make Sanyo a subsidiary of Panasonic. They became a subsidiary of Panasonic on December 21, 2009. In 2010, Sanyo sold its semiconductor operations to ON Semiconductor . On July 29, 2010, Panasonic reached an agreement to acquire
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3444-572: The company announced that they would be selling 9.5 million shares in Square Enix (roughly 8.2 percent of the game company's total shares) in a deal worth approximately $ 48 million. In May 2014 the company announced it was forming two joint ventures with Shanghai Oriental Pearl Group to manufacture and market Sony's PlayStation game consoles and associated software in China. In 2015, Sony purchased Toshiba's image sensor business. It
3526-430: The company changed its name to "Sony". Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo founders Morita and Ibuka realized that to achieve success and grow, their business had to expand to the global market, which required labeling their products with a short and easy brand name. While looking for a romanized name, they at first strongly considered using their initials, TTK. The primary reason they did not is that the railway company Tokyo Kyuko
3608-749: The company sponsored the Argentinian club River Plate from 1992 until 1995 and the Brazilian Coritiba from 1995 until 1999. Sony Sony Group Corporation (formerly Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K. and Sony Corporation ) is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Minato, Tokyo , Japan. The Sony Group comprises entities such as Sony Corporation , Sony Semiconductor Solutions , Sony Entertainment (including Sony Pictures and Sony Music Group ), Sony Interactive Entertainment , Sony Financial Group , and others. Sony
3690-495: The company was established. Sanyo began to diversify in the 1960s, having launched Japan's first spray-type washing machine in 1953. In the 2000s, it was known as one of the 3S along with Sony and Sharp . Sanyo also focused on solar cell and lithium battery businesses. In 1992, it developed the world's first hybrid solar cell , and in 2002, it had a 41% share of the global lithium-ion battery market. In its heyday in 2003, Sanyo had sales of about ¥2.5 trillion. However, it fell into
3772-425: The company's struggling media businesses, encouraging blockbusters such as Spider-Man while cutting 9,000 jobs. He hoped to sell off peripheral business and focus the company again on electronics. Furthermore, he aimed to increase cooperation between business units, which he described as "silos" operating in isolation from one another. In a bid to provide a unified brand for its global operations, Sony introduced
3854-547: The corporation into an environmental company, plowing investment into strong products like rechargeable batteries , solar photovoltaics , air conditioning , hybrid car batteries and key consumer electronics such as the Xacti camera, projectors and mobile phones . Sanyo posted signs of recovery after the announcement of positive operating income of 2.6 billion yen. Sanyo remains the world number one producer of rechargeable batteries. Recent product innovations in this area include
3936-469: The discs, Hi-MD allows the storage of computer files such as documents, videos and photos. In 1993, Sony challenged the industry standard Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound format with a newer and more advanced proprietary motion picture digital audio format called SDDS (Sony Dynamic Digital Sound). This format employed eight channels (7.1) of audio opposed to just six used in Dolby Digital 5.1 at
4018-487: The early years owes to a smooth capitalization on the Digital Compact Cassette standard introduced by Philips , with which Sony went on to enjoy a decades-long technological relationship in various areas. Sony (either alone or with partners) has introduced several of the most popular recording formats, including the 3.5-inch floppy disk , compact disc and Blu-ray disc. Sony introduced U-matic ,
4100-525: The end of fiscal 2005. Panasonic reintroduced the Sanyo brand in India , with the launch of Sanyo LED TV range on August 8, 2016. On July 11, 2017, Sanyo launched its range of smart TVs on Amazon Prime Day . In August 2017, Sanyo unveiled its NXT range of LED televisions exclusively on Flipkart . In December 2017, Sanyo introduced its first 4K smart TV range in India. In September 2019, Sanyo introduced
4182-423: The film studio. According to one report, Sony was set to make a final decision on the possibility of the merger of the TV, film, & gaming businesses by the end of its fiscal year in March of the following year (2017). In 2017, Sony sold its lithium-ion battery business to Murata Manufacturing . In 2019, Sony merged its mobile, TV and camera businesses. On 1 April 2020, Sony Electronics Corporation
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#17327875035594264-560: The fledgling industry from an estimated 100,000 units in 1955 to 5 million units by the end of 1968. Sony co-founder Akio Morita founded Sony Corporation of America in 1960. In the process, he was struck by the mobility of employees between American companies, which was unheard of in Japan at that time. When he returned to Japan, he encouraged experienced, middle-aged employees of other companies to reevaluate their careers and consider joining Sony. The company filled many positions in this manner, and inspired other Japanese companies to do
4346-619: The form of American depositary receipts listed in the New York Stock Exchange (traded since 1961, making it one of the oldest Japanese company to be listed on an American exchange), and was ranked 88th on the 2021 Fortune Global 500 list. In 2023, the company was ranked 57th in the Forbes Global 2000 . Sony began in the wake of World War II. In 1946, Masaru Ibuka started an electronics shop in Shirokiya,
4428-399: The home video game console PlayStation in 1994, which was the first of the eponymous brand . In Japan, Sony expanded into the financial sector. In 2021, Sony transformed into a holding company, handing over the name Sony Corporation to its subsidiary as the electronics company. Sony, with its 55 percent market share in the image sensor market, is the largest manufacturer of image sensors,
4510-520: The marketbase and became the worldwide standard for consumer VCRs. Betamax is, for all practical purposes, an obsolete format. Sony's professional-oriented component video format called Betacam , which was derived from Betamax, was used until 2016 when Sony announced it was stopping production of all remaining 1/2-inch video tape recorders and players, including the Digital Betacam format. In 1985, Sony launched their Handycam products and
4592-417: The position of president over to his co-founder Akio Morita. Sony began a life insurance company in 1979, one of its many peripheral businesses. Amid a global recession in the early 1980s, electronics sales dropped and the company was forced to cut prices. Sony's profits fell sharply. "It's over for Sony", one analyst concluded. "The company's best days are behind it." Around that time, Norio Ohga took up
4674-424: The purchase of Whirlpool Corporation 's television business, Warwick Electronics, which manufactured televisions for Sears . In 1986, Sanyo's U.S. affiliate merged with Fisher to become Sanyo Fisher (U.S.A.) Corporation (later renamed Sanyo Fisher Company). The mergers made the entire organization more efficient, but also resulted in the departure of certain key executives, including Ladd, who had first introduced
4756-466: The remaining shares of Panasonic Electric Works and Sanyo shares for $ 9.4 billion. By March 2012, parent company Panasonic plans to terminate the Sanyo brand, however it will remain on some of the products where the Sanyo brand still holds value to consumers. In the same month, Sanyo's Southeast Asian unit, responsible for the manufacturing of consumer electric appliances in the region, was announced to be formally acquired by Haier . In August 2013,
4838-494: The retail chain. Consumer Reports commented in 2018 that Sanyo TVs "seem to turn up mostly in Walmart stores, almost as a private label for the retailer." Sanyo is also known for its thermal management sector, Sanyo Denki, which makes high speed, large airflow , high static pressure DC fans sold under the moniker "San Ace", a product line mainly geared towards the enterprise market. As of October 2020, Sanyo Denki holds
4920-552: The role of president. He encouraged the development of the compact disc (CD) in the 1970s and 1980s, and of the PlayStation in the early 1990s. Ohga went on to purchase CBS Records in 1988 and Columbia Pictures in 1989, greatly expanding Sony's media presence. Ohga would succeed Morita as chief executive officer in 1989. Under the vision of co-founder Akio Morita and his successors, the company had aggressively expanded into new businesses. Part of its motivation for doing so
5002-525: The same. Moreover, Sony played a major role in the development of Japan as a powerful exporter during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, supplying the U.S. Military with bomb parts used in the Vietnam War . It also helped to significantly improve American perceptions of "made in Japan" products. Known for its production quality, Sony was able to charge above-market prices for its consumer electronics and resisted lowering prices. In 1971, Masaru Ibuka handed
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#17327875035595084-410: The second largest camera manufacturer, and is among the semiconductor sales leaders. It is the world's largest player in the premium TV market for a television of at least 55 inches (140 centimeters) with a price higher than $ 2,500 as well as second largest TV brand by market share and, as of 2020, the third largest television manufacturer in the world by annual sales figures. Although not being
5166-662: The sound chip for the Super Famicom from Nintendo , and operated a video game studio, Sony Imagesoft . As part of a joint project between Nintendo and Sony that began as early as 1988, the two companies worked to create a CD-ROM version of the Super Famicom, though Nintendo denied the existence of the Sony deal as late as March 1991. At the Consumer Electronics Show in June 1991, Sony revealed
5248-598: The specific use of archival data storage, in 1986 and 1988 respectively. In the early 1990s, two high-density optical storage standards were being developed: one was the MultiMedia Compact Disc (MMCD), backed by Philips and Sony, and the other was the Super Density Disc (SD), supported by Toshiba and many others. Philips and Sony abandoned their MMCD format and agreed upon Toshiba's SD format with only one modification. The unified disc format
5330-572: The storage technology, to establish a worldwide standard. In 1983, the two company jointly announced the Compact Disc (CD). In 1984, Sony launched the Discman series, an expansion of the Walkman brand to portable CD players. Sony began to improve performance and capacity of the novel format. It launched write-once optical discs (WO) and magneto-optical discs which were around 125MB size for
5412-505: The technologies developed for the company's optical disc products. In 1983, Sony introduced 90 mm micro diskettes, better known as 3.5-inch (89 mm) floppy disks , which it had developed at a time when there were 4" floppy disks, and many variations from different companies, to replace the then on-going 5.25" floppy disks. Sony had great success and the format became dominant. 3.5" floppy disks gradually became obsolete as they were replaced by current media formats. Sony held more than
5494-515: The time. Ultimately, SDDS has been vastly overshadowed by the preferred DTS ( Digital Theatre System ) and Dolby Digital standards in the motion picture industry. SDDS was solely developed for use in the theatre circuit; Sony never intended to develop a home theatre version of SDDS. Sony and Philips jointly developed the Sony-Philips digital interface format ( S/PDIF ) and the high-fidelity audio system SACD . The latter became entrenched in
5576-491: The two companies. The breaking of the partnership infuriated Sony President Norio Ohga , who responded by appointing Kutaragi with the responsibility of developing the PlayStation project to rival Nintendo. At that time, negotiations were still on-going between Nintendo and Sony, with Nintendo offering Sony a "non-gaming role" regarding their new partnership with Philips. This proposal was swiftly rejected by Kutaragi who
5658-601: The world record for both rotational speed and static pressure of various dimensions and models. Some notable records are: Sanyo was the primary sponsor of the Penrith Panthers in the National Rugby League in Australia from 2000 to 2012. In Formula One , the company sponsored Benetton from 1989 to 1995, Williams from 1995 to 1997 and Stewart Grand Prix from 1997 to 1999. In football ,
5740-455: The world's first LED-backlit LCD televisions. It was widely used in other Sony's products as well, including computer monitors, laptops, and smartphones. In 2013, Sony released a new line of televisions with an improved version of the technology, which incorporated quantum dots in the backlight system. It was the first commercial use of quantum dots. In 2012, the company revealed a prototype of an ultrafine RGB LED display, which it calls
5822-416: The world's first videocassette format, in 1971, but the standard was unpopular for domestic use due to the high price. The company subsequently launched the Betamax format in 1975. Sony was involved in the videotape format war of the early 1980s, when they were marketing the Betamax system for video cassette recorders against the VHS format developed by JVC . In the end, VHS gained critical mass in
5904-525: Was called DVD and was introduced in 1997. Sony was one of the leading developers of the Blu-ray optical disc format, the newest standard for disc-based content delivery. The first Blu-ray players became commercially available in 2006. The format emerged as the standard for HD media over the competing format, Toshiba's HD DVD , after a two-year-long high-definition optical disc format war . Sony's laser communication devices for small satellites rely on
5986-477: Was established as an intermediate holding company to own and oversee its electronics and IT solutions businesses. On 19 May 2020, the company announced that it would change its name to Sony Group Corporation as of 1 April 2021. Subsequently, Sony Electronics Corporation would be renamed to Sony Corporation. On the same day the company announced that it would turn Sony Financial Holdings (currently Sony Financial Group), of which Sony already owns 65.06% of shares, to
6068-442: Was established in 1946 as Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita . This electronics company, known for creating products such as the transistor radio TR-55 , the home video tape recorder CV-2000 , the portable audio player Walkman , and the compact disc player CDP-101 , embarked on diverse business ventures. In 1988, Sony acquired CBS Records , and in 1989, it acquired Columbia Pictures . The company also introduced
6150-497: Was facing increasing criticism over his work with regard to entering the video game industry from within Sony. Negotiations officially ended in May 1992 and in order to decide the fate of the PlayStation project, a meeting was held in June 1992, consisting of Sony President Ohga, PlayStation Head Kutaragi and several senior members of Sony's board. At the meeting, Kutaragi unveiled a proprietary CD-ROM-based system he had been working on which involved playing video games with 3D graphics to
6232-672: Was headquartered in San Diego , California with facilities located in Tijuana , Mexico. Many of Sanyo's television sets offer MHL compatibility along with Roku -ready branding via HDMI , meaning the TVs are compatible with Roku's MHL-specific streaming stick. Sometimes included with purchase, such as with the Sanyo FVF5044, this stick enables video streaming and other online functions as an affordable alternative to certain smart TVs;
6314-490: Was instrumental at Sanyo in promoting Quadraphonic sound audio equipment for the American market, producing 4-channel audio equipment in both discrete and matrix formats. He said "we make all kinds of quadrasonic equipment because this is the business we're in... let the consumer buy the kind of software he prefers and we'll provide him the hardware to play it on". Sanyo realized tremendous growth during Ladd's tenure in
6396-411: Was known as TTK. The company occasionally used the syllabic acronym "Totsuko" in Japan, but during his visit to the United States, Morita discovered that Americans had trouble pronouncing that name. Another early name that was tried out for a while was "Tokyo Teletech" until Akio Morita discovered that there was an American company already using Teletech as a brand name. The name "Sony" was chosen for
6478-551: Was lent an unused Matsushita plant in 1947 and used it to make bicycle generator lamps. Sanyo was incorporated in 1949; it made Japan's first plastic radio in 1952 and Japan's first pulsator-type washing machine in 1954. The company's name means three oceans in Japanese , referring to the founder's ambition to sell their products worldwide, across the Atlantic , Pacific , and Indian oceans. In 1969, Howard Ladd became
6560-483: Was reported in December 2016 by multiple news outlets that Sony was considering restructuring its U.S. operations by merging its TV & film business, Sony Pictures Entertainment, with its gaming business, Sony Interactive Entertainment. According to the reports, such a restructuring would have placed Sony Pictures under Sony Interactive's CEO, Andrew House, though House would not have taken over day-to-day operations of
6642-492: Was the pursuit of "convergence", linking film, music and digital electronics via the Internet. This expansion proved unrewarding and unprofitable, threatening Sony's ability to charge a premium on its products as well as its brand name. In 2005, Howard Stringer replaced Nobuyuki Idei as chief executive officer, marking the first time that a foreigner had run a major Japanese electronics firm. Stringer helped to reinvigorate
6724-675: Was transferred to the FDK Corporation. Sanyo supplies NiMh batteries to Honda , Ford , Volkswagen and PSA Peugeot Citroen . Sanyo is developing NiMH batteries for hybrid electric vehicles with the Volkswagen group, while their lithium-ion batteries for plug-in HEV will also be housed in Suzuki fleet vehicles. Sanyo planned to raise monthly production of NiMH batteries for hybrid vehicles from 1 million units to up to 2.5 million by
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