A timeline of Sony Technology in America

Sony has been a very popular brand in the world of electronics and music production. Sony, under its label, produces home computers, DVD players, personal digital assistants (PDAs), televisions, digital cameras, camcorders, recorders, headphones, audio systems and much more. Sony, in addition to its electronics business, also offers an image-conscious advertising campaign through their Spin-offs/Essentials division. This division produces and distributes photo discs, memory sticks, and other image media. Sony Tapes is a division which distributes consumer videos.

The consumer electronics industry, in turn, was able to draw itself away from the failed project of Philips/HP when they released VCR technology into the market. Philips/HP had previously tried to produce a VCR that could record video, but were unable to reproduce high quality audio. VCR’s greatly benefited the recording industry because it helped recorders cut costs in the creation of long master tape recordings by eliminating all need for expensive machines. This eventually led Philips/HP to go bankrupt.

In response to this failure, Sony TK decided to produce an improved VCR in the market with the same type of features, but higher performance than the original. Philips/HP marketed their superior VCR by producing the “walnut shell” VCR and by offering a “combined” package of two units, one featuring the VCR and the other including the tape recorder. The “combined” package featured both VCRs and a tape recorder with built in record and play functions. The sales of both units were very successful, especially in Asia.

Another attempt to remain competitive in the consumer electronics market was made by Sony Corporation, known at the time as Sony Ericsson. Their new company was established in early October of the same year as Sony TK. Although the company had only a small market share at that time, it launched two new devices, the Walkman Plus and the Walkman XLS, both incorporating the organ technology. The Walkman Plus incorporated the ohga signal amplifier from Ohga, Inc., which worked with the tape deck in the VCR. The Walkman XLS included a built in DVR for recording events to be recorded later on.

A month later, Sony Ericsson entered the American market when they purchased the manufacturing rights from CBS Corporation. This acquisition turned out to be a very lucrative one for Sony, as the sale resulted in increased sales of the Walkman Plus tapes. However, the sale did not help Sony to remain financially stable as the manufacturing of the Walkman Plus tapes in Japan was becoming less competitive. The sale of the VCR by Phillips, a division of CBS, also hurt Sony’s profitability. The American dollar began to depreciate in value, and by the end of the decade, the consumer electronics market was saturated with companies providing the Walkman VCR. This was especially true in Japan, where the market for pocket video recorders was already over saturated with other companies.

In the early part of the next decade, with the production of Walkman VCRs by Philips, Sony again had trouble staying in the black, but they were not without success. During this period, the corporation would also experiment with electronic music. Their most successful release was the Jukebox, a CD player that played music similar to that played on the jukeboxes of New York nightclubs. A year later, Sony launched the Alpha series, which would feature electronic musical instruments. Between the release of the Walkman VHS and Jukebox, Sony Electronics would experience many great changes.