Sony like many other multinationals boasts a rich origin story. Before the company became the reputable global electronics appliances manufacturer that it is today, it actually started off manufacturing rice cookers.
Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, the multinational conglomerate is one of the leading brands in the consumer as well as professional electronics market today.
History
At the end of World War II in 1945, defence contractor Masaru Ibuka established a company called Tokyo Tsushin Kenkyujo”(Totsuken), or Tokyo Telecommunications Research Institute.
A narrow room with a telephone switchboard located on the third floor of the Shirokiya Department Store (Tokyu Department Store which closed on January 1999) in Nihombashi, Tokyo, Japan, became the new workshop for Ibuka and his group.
Having barely survived the warfires, the building had cracks all over its concrete exterior. Gradually, the office environment started to improve as the silicon steel boards, drilling machines and other equipment were transported from the Suzaka factory, and the personnel who had been tying up loose ends there joined the Shirokiya staff.
Although everyone was eager to work for the new company and to help rebuild post-war Japan with their engineering know-how, no one knew what to do at first.
Most of the salaries were paid out of Ibuka’s small, and dwindling, savings. To stay in business, they had to do something.
Ibuka’s factory repaired radios and made shortwave converters or adapters that could easily make medium-wave radios into superheterodyne, or all-wave receivers. Demand for such radios was rapidly increasing.
The shortwave adapters attracted wide attention, and the Asahi Shimbun featured them in its “Blue Pencil” column. As a result, demand increased even further. This article also brought Ibuka and Akio Morita back together again(*).
Failed Rice Cooker
In addition to work, radio repairs brought employees an extra reward as well. They often received rice from houses they visited on service calls, in addition to a normal service fee.
This was treasured during a time of serious food shortages.
Subsequently, Ibuka’s factory worked on an electric rice cooker. As the war plants had closed down, there was more electricity than was needed at the time. This surplus fed Ibuka’s desire to produce items which were needed for everyday life.
The electric rice cooker, made by merely interlocking aluminium electrodes which were connected to the bottom of a wooden tub, was a primitive product. The result depended heavily on the kind of rice used and the weight of the water.
Tasty rice was a rarity, as the rice cooker produced mostly undercooked or overcooked rice. It was a memorable first failure for Ibuka and his staff.
Tape Recorders and Transistors
In May 1946, Ibuka joined hands with former naval lieutenant Akio Morita to launch a new business called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K. (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation), also known as Totsuko.
Based in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, the firm was started with an initial investment of 190,000 yen (around $1,500 today) and also incorporated Ibuka’s radio repair business along with its entire staff. Totsuko focused on research and manufacture of telecommunications and measuring equipment.
The company’s first creation was a ‘Power megaphone’ that went on sale in October 1947. Three years later, the firm launched Japan’s first magnetite-coated, paper-based recording tape, dubbed Soni-Tape.
A few months later, the country’s first magnetic tape recorder, the G-Type was also launched. Interestingly, the device was viewed as a product for government use, hence the G in G Type.
The product didn’t sell well initially, primarily because people knew little about tape recorders and how they could be useful. This led to Ibuka and Morita personally visiting places like government agencies, schools, and universities to market the product and convince people that they need one. Eventually, their efforts bore fruit, and the product sales picked up.
The very next year, Totsuko launched the P-Type portable tape recorder, which was not only smaller and lighter than G-Type, but was also less expensive. It was also commercially successful.
In 1952, Ibuka and Morita learned about the transistor (developed by Bell Laboratories) on their trip to the US. They wasted no time in applying for its license, which they obtained in 1953.
Given the fact that transistors were a smaller, durable, and less expensive alternative to vacuum tubes (which were used in Totsuko’s products till now), the company started working on a small radio that could be carried in hand or pocket.
Meanwhile, with an aim to go global, both Ibuka and Morita decided to have a short brand name that could be easily remembered – they zeroed down on SONY, a mix of the Latin word “Sonus” (which meant sound) and “Sonny”, an American name for boys mostly used in the 1950s. This happened in the year 1955 when the company finally released TR-55, the country’s first transistor radio. Measuring in at just 14 x 8.9 x 3.4cm, the device was an instant hit.
The Sony brand became immensely popular, so much so that the company changed its own name to Sony Corporation in 1958. A couple of years later the company launched a transistorized television and also established trade offices in the US and Switzerland.
The early 1960s saw the company developing transistor-based products including the TC-777 amp tape recorder, the world’s smallest and lightest TV dubbed TV5-303, the country’s first stereo amplifier, the TA-1120, as well as the TC-357, a tape recorder featuring automatic recording adjustment.
In the second half of the decade, Sony launched products like its first cassette tape recorder, the Magazine-matic 100 TC-100, the world’s first IC radio, the ICR-100, as well as a Chromatron-type 19-inch colour TV, 19C-70, and Trinitron colour TV dubbed KV-1310.
This was also the decade when the Japanese company entered into a 50-50 joint venture with America’s CBS Inc. The entity would become Sony Music Entertainment in a few decades.
The year 1973 saw the company getting an Emmy award for developing the Trinitron color TV system – this was the first Emmy ever awarded to a Japanese company.
Meanwhile, the company was expanding globally – German, Spanish, and French subsidiaries were set up in the first few years of the decade.
In the late 1970’s, on co-founder Masaru Ibuka’s desire to listen to music on a device more portable than the company’s existing TC-D5 cassette players, the company started working on a compact cassette tape.
The year 1979 saw the company launch the TPS-L2, the first model of the first-generation Walkman personal stereos. The product, which included headphones and a leather case and a second earphone jack, became a roaring success.
The device was launched as the Sound-About in the US and the Stowaway in the UK, but Sony later settled for the brand name Walkman – the term became so popular that it was even included in Oxford dictionary in 1986.
In the year 1982, Sony launched the world’s first compact disc player in Japan. Dubbed the CDP-101, the $1,000 device was released in the US just a few months later.
In 1983, Sony split into five divisions: marketing and sales, manufacturing, service, engineering, and diversified operations. In 1984, Sony launched the world’s first portable CD player dubbed D-50. The device, which was approximately the size of four CD cases, was later called Discman.
1984 was also the year when the Japanese company bought the rights to use Apple’s hard-disk technology, a move that effectively allowed Sony to capture nearly one-fifth of the Japanese market for workstations, and PCs used in offices. The company also started manufacturing and marketing electronic components for other companies that year, something it had never done before.
In the year 1989, the CCD-TR55 was launched. Nicknamed Handycam, the device was a compact and lightweight passport-sized 8mm camcorder.
This was also the year when Sony purchased American film company Columbia Pictures for $3.4 billion in cash. This was the largest US acquisition by a Japanese firm to that date. A few years later, the entity was renamed Sony Pictures Entertainment.
PlayStation
With the advent of 2000s, Sony changed its strategy a bit, and started focusing on digital and gaming market, as well as emerging networks such as broadband, wireless, and home. In the year 2000, the Japanese company launched the sequel to its original PlayStation gaming console.
Dubbed PlayStation 2, the product was more of a home entertainment center as it could play audio CDs and DVD movies, as well connect to the Internet. The console was hugely successful.
Other Milestones
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- Launch of the personal IT television Airboard IDT-LF1 in 2000.
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- Development of world’s largest (13 inch) full color organic EL display and establishment of Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications in 2001.
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- Launch of world’s first Blu-ray recorder BDZ-S77 in 2003.
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- Establishment of Sony BMG Music Entertainment and development of world’s first mercury-free button-shaped silver-oxide battery in the year 2004.
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- Launch of BRAVIA brand HDTV-compatible flat-screen TVs in 2005.
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- Launch of world’s first Blu-ray Disc drive Notebook PC (VAIO typeA) as well as PlayStation 3 in 2006.
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- Development of Bio Battery (that generated electricity from glucose), and launch of world’s first OLED TV in 2007.
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- Launch of world’s smallest full HD Handycam HDR-TG1 in 2008.
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- Development of finger vein authentication technology dubbed Mofiria and unveiling of new brand message make-believe in 2009.
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- Launch of Cyber-shot and NEX series still cameras, as well as Sony Internet TV in 2010.
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- Introduced its Xperia line of tablets in 2011.
- Launch of Playstation 4 in 2013.
Mobile Phones
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications was established in the year 2001. Clear from its name, the company was a joint venture formed by the Japanese company and Swedish-based Ericsson to manufacture top-quality multimedia mobile phones.
In 2002, Sony Ericsson launched the T68i, a mobile phone which featured a colour display, a built-in e-mail client, Bluetooth, GPRS, as well as two-way MMS, among others.
In the year 2003, Sony Ericsson came up with the T610 which a premium design and a 65,000 color display with 128×160 pixels resolution. The device could also take 288 x 352 pixels resolution pictures.
In 2005, the company launched the K750i mobile phone, which sported a 2MP rear camera with auto-focus. It also had an MP3 player and expandable storage. This was also the year when Sony Ericsson launched the W800, its first Walkman series phone. The device could play MP3 and AAC files, and lasted for up to 30 hours in Music mode.
It also featured Flight mode, Bluetooth v1.2 (with full Bluetooth 2.0 compliance), Infrared, and USB connectivity.
In 2006, the K800 was launched. It was the company’s first Cyber-shot-branded mobile phone. The handset sported a 3.2 MP camera with auto-focus and Macro mode, and offered 32x digital zoom and red-eye reduction.
Sony Ericsson debuted its Xperia series in 2008, the Xperia X10 was its first Android phone that launched in the year 2010 – all previous models of the series ran Windows Phone OS.
This was followed by the launch of devices like the Xperia X10 mini pro, Xperia X10 mini, Xperia Arc, Xperia Play, and Xperia Ray.
In late 2011, Sony announced that it’s acquiring the Sony Ericsson joint venture for $1.5 billion. The famous Sony Ericsson branding ceased in the year 2012, when the acquisition completed, and the erstwhile joint venture was renamed Sony Mobile Communication. It was also decided that, moving forward, the entity will only concentrate on selling smartphones.
The Xperia S – that came out in 2012 itself – became the first smartphone to ship with the Sony branding. The device featured 32GB internal memory a 4.3-inch HD display and a 12MP rear camera.
Gradually, the Xperia brand encompassed Sony Mobile’s smartphone portfolio, with flagships including Xperia Ion and Xperia Acro, as well as Xperia Z1, Z2, and Z3 that launched in the following years.
In 2015, Sony launched the Xperia Z4, and was available internationally as the Xperia Z3+. Unfortunately, the device’s sales were hampered by heating issues, although the company soon released an update to fix the problem.
