SONY

#REDIRECT Sony

Sony

Sony Corporation (Japanese language katakana: ソニー) , is a global consumer electronics corporation based in Tokyo, Japan. It is currently one of the world's largest producers of consumer electronics and is one of the biggest corporations in Japan. Sony Corporation is traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under number 6758 and on the NYSE as SNE through American Depositary Receipt. See also Sony Corporation shareholders and subsidiaries. ==History== It was founded by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita on May 7, 1946 as the Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering with about 20 employees. Their first consumer product, in the late 1940s, was a rice boiler. As it grew into a major international corporation, Sony acquired other companies with longer histories, including Columbia Records (the oldest continuously produced brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888). Today Norio Ohga is Honorary Chairman, Nobuyuki Idei is Chairman and CEO, and Kunitake Ando is president of the corporation. ===Brand change=== When Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo was looking for a romanized name to use to market themselves, they strongly considered using their initials, TTK. The primary reason they did not, is that the railway company Tokyu was known as TKK. The name "Sony" was chosen for the brand as a mix of the Latin word ''sonus'', which is the root of sonic and sound, the English language word "sunny", and from the word ''Sonny-boys'' which is Japanese slang for "whizz kids". However "Sonny" seemed not to be appropriate since it sounds too much like the Japanese ''soh-nee'' which means something like ''"business goes bad"'', Akio Morita pushed for a word that does not exist in any language so that they could claim the word "Sony" as their own (which paid off when they sued a candy producer who also used the name who claimed that "Sony" was just an existing word in some language). At the time of the change, it was extremely unusual for a Japanese company to use Romaji instead of Kanji to spell its name. The move was not without opposition: TTK's principal bank at the time, Mitsui, had strong feelings about the name. They pushed for 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. === Howard Stringer === On March 7th, 2005, Sony Corp. announced that Nobuyuki Idei will step down as Chairman and Group CEO and will be replaced by Briton Sir Howard Stringer, current Chairman and CEO of Sony Corporation of America, Corporate Executive Officer, Vice Chairman and COO Sony Entertainment Business Group. Sony's decision to replace Idei with Wales native Howard Stringer will mark the first time that a foreigner will run a major Japanese electronics firm. Sony Corp. also announced on the same date that current president, Kunitake Ando, will step down and be replaced by Ryoji Chubachi. [http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/200503/05-014E/index.html] ===Acquisitions=== In 1988, Sony acquired CBS (Columbia) Records Group from CBS. It was renamed "Sony Music Entertainment". In 1989, Sony acquired Columbia Pictures Entertainment from Coca Cola for US $3.4 billion. It was subsequently renamed "Sony Pictures Entertainment" in 1991. In 2000, Sony had sales of US $63 billion and 189,700 employees. Sony acquired Aiwa corporation in 2002. Sony also owns television channels in India and channels aimed at Indian communities in Europe. On July 20th, 2004, the EU approved a 50-50 merger between Sony Music Entertainment and BMG. The new company will be called Sony BMG and will, together with RIAA partner Universal Music Group, control 60% of the world wide music market. On September 13th 2004 a Sony-led consortium finalised the deal to purchase famous film studio MGM for about $5 Billion, including $2Bn in debts. ===Legal=== In 2002, Sony Computer Entertainment America, marketer of the popular PlayStation game consoles, was sued by Immersion Corp. of San Jose, California, California which claimed that Sony's PlayStation "Dual Shock" controllers infringed on Immersions patents. In 2004 a federal jury agreed with Immersion, awarding the company US$82 million in damages. A U.S. district court judge ruled on the matter in March, 2005 and not only agreed with the federal jury's ruling but also added another US$8.7 million in damages. ''Washington Post:'' [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6261-2005Mar28.html Pay Judgment Or Game Over, Sony Warned] ===Criticism=== 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. The most infamous of these was the videotape format war of the early 1980s, when Sony marketed its Betamax system for video cassette recorders against the VHS format developed by JVC. In the end, VHS gained critical mass in the marketplace and became the worldwide standard for consumer VCRs and Sony had no choice but to capitulate. Later in 1993 Sony challenged the industry standard Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound format with its newer and more advanced proprietary motion picture digital audio format called SDDS or Sony Dynamic Digital Sound. This format employed eight channels (7.1) of audio opposed to just six used in Dolby Digital 5.1 at the time. Unlike Dolby Digital, SDDS utilized a method of backup by having mirrored arrays of bits on both sides of the film which acted as a measure of reliability in case the film was partially damaged. Ultimately SDDS has been vastly overshadowed by the preferred DTS (Digital Theatre System) and Dolby Digital standards in both the motion picture industry and home audio formats. Sony has continued the same tactic with subsequent technologies; for example, it created MiniDisc to replace cassette tapes which left it in an awkward position when rivals later adopted CD-R and MP3. Sony also makes heavy use of its Memory Stick flash memory cards for digital cameras and other portable devices, which few other manufacturers use. It also attempted to compete with the Iomega Zip drive and Imation Superdisk with their Sony HiFD, but this proved a severe failure. Since the introduction of the MiniDisc format, Sony has attempted to promote its own audio compression technologies under the ATRAC brand, against more widely-used formats like MP3 and Windows Media Audio. Until late 2004, Sony's Network Walkman line of digital portable music players did not support the MP3 de facto standard natively, although the software provided with them would convert MP3 files into the ATRAC or ATRAC3 formats. == Notable products and technologies == See also: List of Sony Trademarks === 1950s === * Reel-to-reel audio tape recording (1950-??) * Transistor radios (1955-) === 1960s === * Trinitron (1968-) === 1970s === * U-matic (1971-1983) * Betamax (1975-1998) * Elcaset (1976-1980) * Walkman (1979-) === 1980s === * Mavica (1981-??) * Betacam (1982-) * Compact Disc (1982-) * floppy disk (1983-) * Discman (1984-) * Handycam (1985-) * 8 mm video format (1985-??) * D1 (Sony) (1987-) * Digital Audio Tape (1987-) * NEWS (1987-??) * D2 (video format) (1988-) * 8 mm video format (1989-) * Video Walkman (1989-) === 1990s === * NT (cassette) (1991-??) * MiniDisc (1992-) * PlayStation (later ''PSone'') (1994-2004) * Magic Link (1994-1997) * DV (1995-) * MiniDV (1995-) * Cybershot (1996-) * Digital8 (1999-) * FD Trinitron (1996-) * VAIO (1997-) * Mavica (1997-) * Ruvi (1998-1999) * Memory Stick (1998-) * Sony HiFD (1998-2001) * Super Audio CD (1998-) * PlayStation 2 (1999-) * Aibo (1999-) === 2000s === * CLI� (2000-2005) * MicroMV (2002-) * HDV (2003-) * Qualia (Sony) (2003-) * Blu-Ray Disc (2003-) * PSX (2003-) * Qrio (2003-) * PlayStation Portable (2004-) * Sony Librie (2004-) * PlayStation 3 (Spring 2006) ''Question marks indicate products no longer sold as of 2005, but the year of withdrawal is unknown'' ==External links== *[http://www.sony.co.jp/ Sony Japan] (In Japanese) *[http://www.sony.net Sony Corporation: Global Headquarters] *[http://www.sony.com/ Sony America] *[http://www.snopes2.com/business/names/sony.asp Snopes article on the name] *[http://www.agoraquest.com/ Agoraquest: site for Sony product enthusiasts] simple:Sony Sony Brands

Sony

''An event mentioned in this article is a MediaWiki:May 7 selected anniversaries'' (may be in HTML comment) -------- ==Logo== Isn't using the company's logo a copyvio (see similar additon by Tonius on the Hasbro article)? We should probably get clear on this before we add company logos to every article in the 'pedia and get a lawsuit on our hands. Please correct me if I'm wrong (such as, using company logos is allowed under Fair Use). —User:Frecklefoot 15:19, 11 Aug 2003 (UTC :I was wondering about that. It would be nice to know if we can include logos.User:Vancouverguy 15:24, 11 Aug 2003 (UTC) There's a discussion regarding this issue now in progress on the Wikipedia:Village_Pump#Wikipedia_logo_policy. Regardless, the current image is rather poor in quality (grainy) and should be replaced with a crisper (and perhaps larger) version. A PNG would probably be preferable to a JPG as it is not lossy. See IBM for a better implementation of a logo. —User:Frecklefoot 19:12, 17 Nov 2003 (UTC) Okay, I replaced it. But the old one, Image:Sony.jpg, is still sitting on a server somewhere. Does anyone know where to request to get it deleted? —User:Frecklefoot 17:38, 3 Mar 2004 (UTC) Why is the notice on this page, shouldn't it be on the :Image:SonyLogo.png page? -- User:Emperorbma|User talk:Emperorbma 22:33, 14 Aug 2004 (UTC) ---- I notice that Columbia Pictures is a redirect to this page; Columbia had a long and interesting history before Sony bought them in 1989, and it really should have its own article. I'll go ahead and start on it, though I don't have much time at the moment. User:Lee Cremeans 16:14, 3 Mar 2004 (UTC) ==From Talk:Sony== background on the sony brand: [http://news.sel.sony.com/corporateinfo/sony_brand/] from [http://www.sony.net/Fun/SH/1-35/h1.html]: In 1958, Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, which was gaining recognition for its Sony brand goods, changed its name to Sony Corporation. The name "Sony" is easy to pronounce and read in any language. from [http://www.sony.net/Fun/SH/1-35/h4.html]: Following registration of the Sony trademark and the company's rebirth as Sony Corporation, plans to internationalize, diversify operations, and widen brand recognition were successfully implemented This shows that the Sony brand it trademarked, and existed prior to "Sony Corporation". It was a brand of the "Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo" User:Christopher Mahan 18:56, 30 Dec 2004 (UTC) == Page move discussion == (from Wikipedia:Requested moves) ====Sony Corporation → Sony==== *This will move the page back to where it was for at least 3+ years until yesterday, which I think counts as consensus. It was moved by one user wanting to reflect an obscure quirk of Japanese corporate law in a completely not-useful way. The two pages listed on the new Sony page are subsidiaries of Sony Corp, so could equally well still be linked after the move. -- User:Dtcdthingy 11:30, 30 Dec 2004 (UTC) * Support. User:Rd232 14:17, 30 Dec 2004 (UTC) * Oppose. I am the user in question. Sony is a brand, a marque, trademark even. The name of the corporation is "Sony Corporation". You don't call the "Disney" company "Disney" because everybody calls it that. You call it The Walt Disney Company because that's its name. User:Christopher Mahan 18:41, 30 Dec 2004 (UTC). ** Which would make sense if the page was only about the Corp, but it's not, it's equally about the brand and the product and the subsidiaries and lots of things in between. Move it to a general Sony page, branch off sub-pages if necessary -- User:Dtcdthingy 20:41, 30 Dec 2004 (UTC) * Oppose. Sony should be a redirect to Sony Corporation. User:Violetriga User_talk:violetriga 19:53, 30 Dec 2004 (UTC) * Support. Sony's subsidaries and other external links can be referenced at the bottom of the Sony page, there is nothing ambiguous, it's all one big family. --User:Gunter 20:34, 30 Dec 2004 (UTC) * Support. An utterly unnecessary disambiguation. The Walt Disney Company should also be moved to Disney. --User:Tony Sidaway|User talk:Tony Sidaway 11:56, 31 Dec 2004 (UTC) * Support. The article's scope is not limited to the corporation. User:Austin Hair (User talk:Austin Hair&Special:emailuser/Austin Hair) 17:02, Dec 31, 2004 (UTC) *Support. and move that other article to Disney while you're at it, like Tony Sidaway suggested. User:SECProto 03:51, Jan 3, 2005 (UTC) *Oppose. Article titles should be formal and specific, so I'm with User:Violetriga here. For example, in the sentence "Disney was responsible for creating the movie Fantasia", the company or the person could equally be the subject and it would be disconcerting to be told that "Disney" exclusively meant the company. The way to deal with this is with a redirect so people realize that they need to look for a bio-page when they get redirected to the clearly labeled company article. User:BanyanTree 00:31, 9 Jan 2005 (UTC) *Oppose. The article is primarily about the Sony Corporation, with some added material about the ''Sony'' brand (which can be moved back to Sony). For a good model for how I think the Sony article should be, I recommend the article Toyota. User:COGDEN 02:34, Jan 11, 2005 (UTC) ** And while we're at it, could we merge Toyota Group and Toyota at Toyota? Another utterly pointless duplication. --User:Tony Sidaway|User talk:Tony Sidaway 11:55, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC) *Support, Sony is a universal brand. --User:Mateusc 18:26, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC) ==Page move== For what it's worth, article titles are not supposed to be formal, so that two votes above are simply contrary to the Manual of Style. See Wikipedia:Naming conventions (common names). As an example of this practice, see Nintendo. If I had realized this page was up for moving, I would have supported it, however it appears I missed it. As is, six supported while four opposed, but as I mentioned above, two of those votes were contrary to the Manual of Style, leaving us with six supports and two opposes. The answer seems obvious to me, but I'll leave this sit for a while. - User:Vague Rant | User talk:Vague Rant 08:47, Feb 1, 2005 (UTC) :As you may have noticed, I've now moved the article. - User:Vague Rant | User talk:Vague Rant 05:24, Jun 1, 2005 (UTC) == I don't get this: == "Until late 2004, Sony's various digital portable music players did not support even the de facto standard MP3 natively, although the software provided with them would convert MP3 files into the ATRAC formats." I've seen other articles on the internet about this too, but it doesn't appear to be true. Look at these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/026-0806288-3435660 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00008W7LI/qid=1110469622/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8__i1_xgl23/102-6766395-9483344?v=glance&s=electronics&n=507846 The D-NE511 and D-NE510 (seems to be US variant) Atrac CD Walkmans, both available from Amazon since March 2003. I have a 511 which I bought in August '03, and I can assure you it can play any old normal MP3 just stuck onto a plain old ISO9660 format CD-R/RW. CD Walkmans are also "digital portable music players", are they not? I don't see what's not digital or portable about them... :Indeed. I've fixed it to say Network Walkmans, since they are the product line meant. --User:Dtcdthingy 05:24, 11 Mar 2005 (UTC) == Slogan == Is it still "Like No Other"? I haven't heard that one before. The slogan used for the last few years, at least here in Australia, has been "It's a Sony" It's said in an American accent, and the ads are filmed in America, so I can only assume it's the American slogan as well. I am hesitant to edit without others agreeing, however.

Sony

Companies of Japan Companies traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Computer and video game companies Electronics companies Robotics companies

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Words begining with Sony:

SONY
Sony
Sony
Sony
Sony-BMG
Sony-youth
Sony/ATV_Music_Publishing
Sonya.jpeg
Sonya07
Sonya_Adler
Sonya_Blade
Sonya_Davies
Sonya_Emery
Sonya_Gomez
Sonya_Hartnett
Sonya_Kraus
Sonya_L
Sonya_L
Sonya_L/ban
Sonya_Michelson
Sonya_Oberlander
Sonya_Olschanezky
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Sonya_Thomas
Sonys
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Sony_AK_Knowledge_Center
Sony_Animation
Sony_Arianto_Kurniawan
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Sony_Awards
Sony_BMG
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Sony_BMG_Music_Entertainment
Sony_camcorder
Sony_Chemicals_Corporation
Sony_Classical_Records
SONY_CLIE
Sony_Clie
Sony_Computer_Entertainment
Sony_Computer_Entertainment
Sony_Computer_Entertainment,_Inc.
Sony_Computer_Entertainment_America
Sony_Computer_Entertainment_America_Inc.
Sony_Computer_Entertainment_Inc.
Sony_Connect
Sony_Connect_Inc.
Sony_Corp._of_America_v._Universal_City_Studios,_Inc.
Sony_Corp._of_America_v._Universal_City_Studios,_Inc.
Sony_Corp._v._Universal_City_Studios
Sony_Corporation
Sony_Corporation
Sony_corporation
Sony_Corporation_of_America
Sony_Corporation_shareholders_and_subsidiaries
Sony_Cyber-shot_DSC-S90
Sony_Entertainment_Television
Sony_Entertainment_Television
Sony_Entertainment_Television(India)
Sony_Entertainment_Television_(India)
Sony_Ericcson
Sony_Ericsson
Sony_Ericsson
Sony_Ericsson_K700i
Sony_Ericsson_K700i
Sony_Ericsson_K750i
Sony_Ericsson_K750i
Sony_Ericsson_Mobile_Communications_AB
Sony_Ericsson_Mobile_Communications_AB
Sony_Ericsson_P900
Sony_Ericsson_P900
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Sony_Ericsson_T68i
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Sony_Interactive_Studios_America
Sony_Librie
Sony_Librie_EBR-1000EP
Sony_Life_Insurance_Co.,_Ltd.
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Sony_Online_Entertainment
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Sony_PictureStation_DPP-EX50
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Sony_subsidiaries
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Sony_v._Betamax
Sony_v._Universal
Sony_VAIO
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Sony_v_Betamax
Sony_Walkman
Sony_WEGA