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SONY
Sony was founded just after World War II by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita in Tokyo, Japan. The company actually began as Ibuka's radio repair shop in a bomb-damaged department store building in 1945, but became Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K. (which translates into Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation) when Ibuka and Morita teamed up a year later. One of the company's first products was Japan's first tape recorder. The company officially changed its name to Sony in 1958, although the first Sony-branded products were released about three years earlier. The name Sony comes from the Latin word Sonus (root word for sonic and sound), and a play on the American term sonny (popularly used in the 1950s to refer to a boy).
Today, Sony is one of the largest media conglomerates in the world and a leading manufacturer of video game consoles, video products, information technology, and various other electronic products. The company has over 180,000 employees worldwide. Sony produces both consumer and professional electronic equipment, as well as communication and information-related products, Semiconductors, batteries, and chemicals. The company has been a key innovator, especially in the area of electronic/digital formats. Over the years, Sony has introduced Umatic, Betamax, Betacam, Compact Disc, the 3.5 inch floppy disk, Video8, DAT, Hi8, Minidisc, Digital Betacam, miniDV, Memory Stick, Digital8, PSP Universal Disc, HDV, and Blu-ray Disc. Some of Sony's most popular products today include: The Playstation 3 and PSP consoles, the Sony line of HDTVs, Blu-ray players, and computers.
