Aiwa
Aiwa logo from 1991 to 2003, and since 2015
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| Industry | Consumer electronics |
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| Founded | 1951 (as AIKO Denki Sangyo Co., Ltd.) 1959 (as Aiwa Co., Ltd.) 2015 (as Aiwa Corp.) |
| Headquarters |
Taito, Tokyo (1951-2002) Chiyoda, Tokyo (2002-2006) Chicago, Illinois (2015-) |
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Key people
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Joe Born (CEO) |
| Parent |
Independent (1951-1982; 2015-) Sony Corporation (1982-2006) |
| Website | aiwa |
Aiwa (アイワ?), registered as Aiwa Corp., is a consumer electronics company owned by Chicago-based Joe Born since 2015. Aiwa was originally a Japanese company founded in 1951, and was once a globally well-regarded brand known for making quality audio products, such as speakers, boomboxes and stereo systems. It was the market leader in several product categories. Aiwa created the first cassette tape recorder in 1964. The company was listed on the from October 1961 until September 2002.
The company went into the red in the late 1990s, and was fully bought by Sony in 2002. Aiwa was then rebranded as a new youth-focused division of Sony, but it was unsuccessful and the brand was discontinued by 2006. In 2015, an American audio company known as Hale Devices, Inc. was granted the rights to the iconic brand name, with the company renaming itself to Aiwa Corporation and starting to produce audio equipment.
The company was founded on June 20, 1951 as AIKO Denki Sangyo Co., Ltd., manufacturing microphones, and changed its name to Aiwa Co., Ltd. (アイワ株式会社?) in March 10, 1959. Mitsuo Ikejiri served as president until 1969.
The company was a leading manufacturer of audio products, including headphone stereos, minicomponent stereo systems, portable stereo systems, minidisc players, CD and cassette players, and car stereo systems throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Nearly 86 percent of company revenues were derived from such audio products. 12 percent came from products such as televisions and VCRs, and the remaining two percent from computer peripherals and other life products.
Aiwa marketed Japan's first boombox, TPR-101, in 1968, as well as the first cassette deck, TP-1009. In 1980 Aiwa created the world's first personal stereo recorder, TP-S30. Despite Sony being the major shareholder, healthy competition between the two brands was believed to be profitable. In 1990 Aiwa created the HP-J7 earbuds, designed to be vertically inserted into the ear. In 1993 the first CD+G-compatible portable CD player was made, XP-80G.
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Wikipedia