It’s a well known fact that Sony, a multinational conglomerate head-quartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the leading brands in the consumer as well as professional electronics market today. However, what is not widely known is how it all began. In this article, we’ll take a brief look at the company’s history – it’s journey from the beginning to where it is today, as well as some its milestone products.
The Beginning
Around 70 years ago, in the year 1945, defense contractor Masaru Ibuka established a company called Tokyo Tsushin Kenkyujo”(Totsuken), or Tokyo Telecommunications Research Institute. This was the time when the World War II had just ended. Ibuka’s firm operated from the third floor of the damaged Shirokiya Department Store (shown below) in Tokyo.
Although the company mainly focused on radio repairs, it also came up with its own product: an electric rice cooker.
Made by interlocking aluminum electrodes connected to the bottom of a wooden tub, the product lacked innovation, and mostly produced either overcooked or undercooked rice – the result depended on the type of rice as well as the quantity of water used. Overall, it was a failed attempt, and the cooker never hit the market.
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 can 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 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 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, world’s smallest and lightest TV dubbed TV5-303, 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, world’s first IC radio, the ICR-100, as well as a Chromatron-type 19-inch color TV, 19C-70, and…
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