The name of one of the founders of the Sony company. Sony History: A History of Leadership

Sony is not just a company name, it is an ideology and even a whole cult. Everything is like with Apple, only Japanese. The story of Sony is not only about hard work, but also about loyalty, luck and even betrayal of national and family traditions. To understand this story and understand the ideology of the company, it is necessary to start the story from the very beginning - from birth. Unfortunately, the creators of Sony Corporation did not live in our times, but they paved the way that the company still follows. Stop! Somehow I jumped too far, let's go in order.

A brilliant manager and inventor, Masaru Ibuka, was born in 1908 near Tokyo, into the family of an engineer. When the baby was only 2 years old, tragedy struck - his father died in an accident at a power plant. Although this was not welcomed by the public, his mother remarried and, since Masar’s mother now has a new family, he had to leave and become the ward of his grandparents. IN adolescence Masaru followed in his father's footsteps and became interested in electronics. His loving grandfather, noticing his hobbies, sent his grandson to study at the university.

Some time after training, the ambitious and rich in ideas Masaru opens his own company, which lasted until the Second World War. Not a single company that was even slightly connected with military activities survived the defeat of Japan. Masara Ibuki's company was no exception.

1921 was a happy year for the still defunct Sony company. This year, in the family of a distiller famous throughout Japan, a boy was born - the future leading engineer of Sony. Akio’s interest in technology began already in his youth, especially after buying an electric phonograph for his son. The parents accepted the fact that their son would break a 15-generation tradition and would not be a distiller. When Akio's father realized this, he sent him to study mathematics and physics at Osaka University.

After graduating from university, Akio served as an officer in the Japanese navy until the end of World War II.

Akio and Masaru met during the war, in a military research committee. After the defeat of Japan, being in complete devastation and hunger, the inventors, trying to survive, opened their own laboratory in 1946. The name they gave it was not complicated - “Tokyo tsushin kogyo kabushiki kaisa” (which translates as “Tokyo Research Laboratory”). The first investment in this laboratory was 500 American dollars, which Akio borrowed from his father. The young guys had a lot of ideas, but the first implemented project became an electronic rice cooker.

As everyone knows: “The first rice cooker was lumpy.” It had a number of problems associated both with cooking rice and with the uselessness of the device itself in the post-war period. After scratching their heads, the friends took the heating element from this rice cooker and sewed it into the pillow. The invention was called a warm pillow. As funny as it may seem, this product was more successful than the rice cooker. Even periodic sparking and ignition of pillows did not frighten buyers. Finally, having acquired a little money, Akio and Masaru went in search of successful ideas. It didn't last long. Masaru immediately noticed that Japanese-made radios were of very low quality and it was simply impossible to extract useful information from international airwaves. Using their intelligence, the inventors launched short-wave set-top boxes for Japanese radios into mass production. This was their first serious development and a real first step towards Sony. Having released shortwave set-top boxes, friends did not notice big problem. Japan was still in ruins and people had nothing to pay for the invention; everyone only had rice. But our heroes had no time to be indignant. Showing ingenuity, they began to exchange the consoles for rice and sell the rice.

One day they received an order from a radio station to make a remote control for the radio. Then, having visited the radio station, the entrepreneurs saw a foreign tape recorder and got excited about the idea of ​​​​creating the same thing, but on their own.

At that moment, any development and production were difficult. Due to post-war restrictions on electricity consumption, this limit was constantly exceeded and the “Tokyo Research Laboratory” was kicked out of their official location, production was forced to move to the ruins of an abandoned building. In the “new” building the roof had holes everywhere and everyone had to work under umbrellas. But this had one plus - unlimited energy consumption.

At the first stage of tape recorder development, it was necessary to figure out how to create a magnetic tape under “under-umbrella” conditions. There was only rice in abundance, and there were no special materials. So, it was decided to plant the metal powder on the film using rice broth. Everything was successful on the first try, but during playback there was only noise. Having approached the issue with greater responsibility, we still managed to create magnetic tape. The next stage was the construction of the tape recorder itself. Naturally, this stage was not easy, but the ancestors of Sony succeeded. In 1951, the world saw a Japanese tape recorder. He weighed only 35 kg, and cost a little more than 20 average salaries. It would seem that there is no one to pay attention to such a product. But almost immediately, the laboratory received an order for such devices. The first clients were the courts. Due to the shortage of stenographers, the Japanese authorities decided to replace them with tape recorders. Moreover, in some cases, they were even more reliable. Implementation idea modern technologies The government liked it and over time there were even such tape recorders in some schools.

A little later, Totsuko (as the laboratory was called for short) acquired a patent from Western Electric for the production of transistors. It's funny that no one paid attention to this patent until Totsuko began producing compact transistor radios, and this happened in 1957. One young man, who worked on the receiver, was named Rayona Esaki. In our time, this is one of the brightest minds of quantum physics, whom, in 1956, Akio Morita hired to work in his laboratory.

When Akio Morita went to the USA to show his products there, he was disgraced. The reason was not his success and achievements, the problem was the unpronounceable name of the company. Akio and Masaru already realized that the company needed a new, simple name. The search included a word that was not found in any language in the world. The lengthy work of reasoning was justified when the company was named Sony. The choice was made due to its consonance with:

• “sunny”, which means sunny in English;
• “sonny” - son;
• “sonus” - sound.

It was also important that the name contain only one letter “N”, since in Japanese “Sonny” means not successful.

The company’s special policy brought it into global trends:

• First of all, the company must use the latest technology;
• The product must be produced only of the highest quality;
• Develop and produce only unique equipment of its kind.

These postulates, formulated by Masara and Akio, began to work and Sony began to spend huge amounts of money on research and implementation of new technologies. This is confirmed by the following chronology:

• 1960- the world's first transistor television with a black and white screen. It had a diagonal of 8 inches;
• 1963– release of the first transistor cassette recorder;
• 1968– invention of the world's first color picture tube, Trinitron;
• 1971– the world's first professional video camera, Sony, was released;
• 1977– the world's first inch broadcast video recorder;
• 1982– CD players were invented.

Since 1978, the creators of Sony began to quietly leave the company, they only occasionally intervened in the development process and threw up new ideas. At that time, the company had already absorbed the consumer technology market in both the US and Europe. By 1988, Sony had become a true corporation, acquiring multimedia companies. In particular, this year the CBS Records Inc. studio was purchased. and renamed Sony Music Entertainment. With the advent of the 90s, the world saw unique products that changed the world. These are: Vaio laptops, Sony Playstation, Blue-Ray, Cyber ​​Shot cameras.

Due to a fire in 2000 at the Phillips plant in New Mexico, Ericsson suffered losses, along with Nokia. Both of these companies bought logic chips for their mobile phones from this plant. While Nokia had spare suppliers, Ericsson had none at all. The latter has to take desperate measures and negotiates with Sony on the joint production of mobile phones. In 2001, these companies completed their formal merger, and at the end of 2002 they began producing mobile phones under the Sony Ericsson brand.

The first most successful models were the T610 and P900, released in 2003. The first model was the dream of young people, the second model was intended for truly business people.

The next impeccable victories were the first smartphones of the Cyber ​​Shot and Walkman lines in 2005, the K750i and W800, respectively.

Unfortunately, the story of perfection of these two phone lines is coming to an end. The main competitor, Nokia, is releasing stronger players into the market and SE is losing its position. Having released more than 20 phone models in 2007, none of them were as successful as the K750i and W800. SE also attempted to produce smartphones on its own OS - UIQ, which was a relative of Symbian, but again without success.

Positive changes awaited the company already in 2008, with the announcement of a new line of Xperia smartphones. These were supposed to be stylish and functional smartphones running Windows Mobile, but, unfortunately, they were underestimated by society. But the company pinned its hopes on the Xperia X1 and X2.

In 2009, SE made a very important decision. It concerned the fact that all Xperia smartphones will be released exclusively on the Android operating system. This decision had a positive impact on the company's profits. The culprit was Sony Ericsson's first Android flagship, the Xperia X10.

The company's next actions were quite obvious - to make more Android smartphones, and these are: Xperia x8, Xperia Arc, Xperia Arc S, Xperia PLAY, Xperia Neo, Xperia pro, Xperia mini, Xperia mini pro. Naturally, not many took the shot and the company began to lose profits again.

Recently, the Sony Ericsson brand no longer exists. Ericsson, fearing strong competition from Samsung, HTC and LG, offered Sony to buy out their 50% stake. Sony is now a much more competitive company than when it was merged. Do not forget that Sony, first of all, is not only a manufacturer of high-quality and functional smartphones, but also televisions, photo/video equipment, multimedia equipment, game consoles and other things. The entire Sony Corporation consists of eight divisions:

• Sony Corporation (holding management, consumer and professional electronics);
• Sony Computer Entertainment (Playstation game consoles and video games);
• Sony Mobile Communications (mobile phones);
• Sony Vaio (laptops);
• Sony Bravia (TVs);
• Sony Music Entertainment (music industry);
• Sony Pictures Entertainment (production and production of films, owns film studios Columbia Pictures and TriStars Pictures);
• Sony Financial Holdings (financial operations - insurance, banks).

Without a doubt, such a large company would not have become so without brilliant managers and engineers. Sony is a company of traditions, rules and modernity bordering on the future.

A couple of interesting facts about Sony:

• When Sony, together with Panasonic, developed CD-ROM compact discs, their capacity was determined by chance. A survey was conducted among potential buyers about what kind of music they would listen to from the discs. The survey showed that people were most interested in the superbly clear sound of classical music. Since the top seller of cassettes in Japan was Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, and it lasted 74 minutes, 74 minutes in 16-bit stereo audio were converted into bytes. It was then determined that the optical disk should have a capacity of 640 MB;
• Masaru Ibuka, in addition to Sony, was busy with the association early development children, as well as the organization “Training Talents”;
• The founders of Sony were loyal to their company until the very end and never refused advice, even in the last years of their lives.

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

Slogan: make.belive

At the origins of many world-famous companies were two people, one of whom was a talented engineer, the other well-versed in the business world. Was no exception Sony.

This happened in 1946, in Japan, which was just beginning to revive after the defeat and shocks of World War II. In the partially destroyed Nihonbashi shopping center, which miraculously survived the bombing of Tokyo, a young engineer, Masaru Ibuka, opened a workshop for repairing various electrical equipment and electronics. After some time, he and his old friend Akio Morita founded an office in the same premises for a new company, which received the loud name Tokyo Telecommunications Research Institute, which was sometimes shortened to Totsuko. A year later they will move to some semblance of what can already be called the head office. Their first development was a set-top box for radio receivers, which expanded the capabilities of the device, allowing it to receive foreign programs. These products were not in great demand, but allowed them to stay afloat, amassing some semblance of initial capital. Moreover, sometimes it was necessary to take payment not in money, but in various products, which was a common occurrence for an impoverished country. In the future, more profitable products appear.

But real success came in September 1949, when Japan's first tape recorder was created. A rather ugly, massive box that used 25 cm diameter spools was called Type G.

Friends have always understood the importance of creating not only high-quality products, but also a beautiful brand, which was simply necessary to enter the world market. This is how the brand was born in 1950 Sony– derived from Latin "sonus" ("sound"). The word turned out to be simple, easy to remember and unique. In 1955, a new logo was officially approved and the first products under the new brand were introduced - the TR-55 transistor radio. The success of this receiver determined the success of the brand. The next model was the first miniature receiver, the TR-63, the price of which was inversely proportional to its size. He had no commercial success. By that time, components produced Totsuko Other Japanese manufacturers are starting to purchase.

In 1958, the company officially changed its name to Sony Corporation, still in use today.

Subsequently, the main focus was on two things - innovative developments and beautiful brands. The company owns a great many brands. Among them there are world famous ( Trinitron, Vaio, PlayStation, Walkman, Bravia, Cyber-shot, Clie), and those that are known only to specialists.

The second half of the twentieth century was marked by the dawn Sony. A sort of “golden period”. The company is successfully developing new market segments. And she creates others herself. Many unique devices and developments are appearing, analogues of which competitors will not be able to create soon.

In his book Just for Fun, the creator of the operating system Linux, Linus Torvalds read Sony great future. In his opinion, the corporation should have become for the world of electronics approximately the same as it is Microsoft for the software world. It’s not surprising - in those years when the book was written (the 90s of the last century), Sony really developed at a rapid pace. In 1990 alone, more than 500 innovative developments were presented! Brand Sony became a megabrand - many consumers often purchased electronics based only on it, without even paying attention to the products of competitors. But…

As of today, things are going well Sony Things are no longer as great as they used to be. This was due to the overly complex structure that did not allow us to adequately and quickly respond to new market trends, as well as confidence in our own steadfastness. The policy of imposing one's own standards also played a negative role. The company, which had always been considered one of the most innovative, suddenly ceased to have time to respond to technical trends in the market. As a result, leading positions in many areas were lost - portable players(now rules the roost Apple), televisions ( Samsung), gaming consoles ( Nintendo). The alliance with the Swedish failed Ericsson, - brand Sony-Ericsson failed to exert the necessary influence on the market ( Nokia, Samsung, LG, HTC, Apple). The main competitor unexpectedly turned out to be a South Korean conglomerate Samsung, bypassing the Japanese in many directions.

The most important thing that was not taken into account in Sony- this is the fact that modern users are no longer interested in a “loud” brand, but in high functionality, even at some expense to quality. There are fewer people willing to pay large sums just for a beautiful label. SonyStyle has lost its former attractiveness, although it has not completely faded. Yes, and in professional technology Sony plays a significant role. But Torvalds's prediction was not destined to come true.

The company's headquarters is located in Tokyo, Japan. Sony Group- a complex structure with many divisions and subsidiaries. The controlling company is Sony Corporation. The main area of ​​production is electronics, but the company also plays a significant role in the mass media, being involved in television and radio broadcasting and film production.

Interesting Facts:

In 1946, the young company's main income came from an electrically heated pillow, which was sold under the brand Ginza Heating Company. The reason for the appearance of this brand is anecdotal - being completely unsure of the quality of this product, friends decided to use a different name, so that in case of failure they would not bring problems to the main one, destroying the reputation of the company, which was just beginning to get on its feet. To their credit, it should be noted that these pillows turned out to be very good.

* * *
This story caused quite a stir on the Internet at one time. It happened in May 2007 in Finland. Some user of some equipment Sony I ordered the most ordinary mounting screw from the company’s service center. The request was fulfilled quickly, but the invoice issued by the SC was 62 euros! Thus, the markup amounted to 700% of the cost of the screw. It must be assumed that the victim was not too eager to purchase equipment in the future. Sony.

Sony Corporation, a world leader in the production of electronics, appeared on the photographic equipment market relatively recently, but has already managed to occupy a very strong position in it. In general, this is not surprising, since rapid technological breakthroughs and risky marketing moves are the company’s usual tactics, which were formed at the dawn of its activities.

The year of Sony's founding is considered to be 1946, when former colleagues at the defense company Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka met in Tokyo bombed by American planes. The friends drank sake, congratulated each other on having survived the war, and immediately decided to organize some kind of production.

The partners' initial capital was small: 84,500 yen, or $375 at the exchange rate of the time, most of which Morita borrowed from his father, a successful distiller. This money was enough for May 7, on the second floor of the dilapidated shopping center launched Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo - "Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Company", which had a staff of 20 people (all of these people were former employees from the same defense plant).

Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka, founders of Sony

The first tape recorder

Despite the loud name, the company produced far from the most high-tech products: rice fryers, voltmeters and heating pads, which had to be peddled. With the proceeds, Morita and Ibuka bought a variety of foreign electrical appliances that poured into the country with the arrival of American troops. The engineers were most impressed by the American tape recorder with a metal magnetic tape on which radio programs could be recorded. Quickly realizing that an expensive and heavy metal plate was not the best basis for a magnetic coating, the friends set out to develop a more advanced medium. As a result, they came up with the idea of ​​cutting a sheet of whatman paper into narrow strips and applying magnetic paint on them in a thin layer. The simple technology for producing lightweight and flexible magnetic tape was immediately patented, and in 1950, the Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Company released the first Japanese G-Type tape recorder.

The first Japanese tape recorder G-Type weighed almost half a centner

Assembling tape recorders in the workshop of the Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Company, 1950s

The creation turned out to be complex, bulky and very expensive. It is unlikely that it would have become widespread if not for an unexpected order from the district court: tape recorders were then very rare even in the United States, and the Japanese judicial department, suffering from an eternal shortage of stenographers, was glad to get domestic devices for recording voices. The sale of 24 tape recorders at once brought the company 1 million yen and confidence in its abilities. The following year, the company released a more advanced model of the H tape recorder, weighing only 13 kg. Morita immediately sent the device's designer, Masao Kurahashi, on a lecture tour around the country to talk about new sound recording technologies in educational institutions. And he himself began to convince officials from the Ministry of Education of the need to install tape recorders in schools. In the end, under pressure from Morita and teachers impressed by the new product, officials gave in, and the company received another massive order for its products. And only the third model of the tape recorder, P, became a real bestseller without any government orders - not least due to its attractive price and significantly easier operation.

The first transistor radios enjoyed unprecedented popularity

Transistors from America

In March 1952, Masaru Ibuka went to the United States to study the use of tape recorders in everyday life, and at the same time see how their production was organized in American companies. The main result of this trip was the purchase of a license for the production of transistors from Western Electric. These semiconductor devices, designed to amplify and control electric current, had been invented in Germany before the war, but engineers were still vague about where exactly they could be used. While the Americans were considering the possibility of using transistors in military equipment, Ibuka designed based on them... an innocent household radio. Unlike its bulky counterparts, the transistor model was the size of a thick book and could run not only on mains power, but also on batteries. TR-2 - this is the name given to the new device - became the first truly portable radio receiver in the world.

Presentation of a prototype of the U-matic VTR household video recorder

MicroTV Sony TV5-303

Inexpensive, lightweight receivers that could be taken anywhere became wildly popular, and Ibuka decided to expand the scope of transistors. In 1960, based on them, he designed a small portable television with an 8-inch screen, and five years later the first video recorder capable of recording television programs on magnetic tape appeared. Both of these devices were released under a new brand, the name of which sounded short and noble: Sony.

Birth of sound

Telecommunications Engineering Company finally changed its complex name in 1958. Akio Morita, who by that time had become responsible for promoting the company’s products, assured, not without reason: “To gain a foothold in the world market, we need a different name - simple, short, easy to pronounce and memorable. And instead of hieroglyphs, you need to use the international Latin alphabet.” For example, Americans could not pronounce not only Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, but even the abbreviation Totsuko - and selling a product in the United States made by a company with an unpronounceable name would have been difficult, to put it mildly. At first, Morita and Ibuka wanted to shorten the name of their brainchild to three letters - TTK, but then problems would inevitably arise in the domestic market. After all, TTK is very similar to TKK, the Japanese railway company. And then, having rummaged through dictionaries, the friends pulled out the Latin word sonus - “sound”, which, in their opinion, ideally reflected the direction of the company’s activities. Having slightly modernized it, Morita and Ibuka came up with the word sony, which was destined to become the international name of the company.

The modern Sony logo was approved in 1973

The first Sony logos, which appeared on radios in 1955, were written in a dynamically slanted font. Two years later, the font was replaced with a calmer and more readable one, and since then only the thickness of the letters has changed in the style of the word Sony. The last version of the logo that we now see on Sony products was approved in 1973.

The habit of surprising

In 1968, Sony established its first overseas subsidiary, Sony UK Ltd. in Great Britain, in 1971 it introduced the world's first professional cassette recording system, and in 1972 it received its first (of fifteen subsequent) Emmy music award. People started talking about the Japanese corporation, and both competitors and students of management and marketing departments at major universities began to understand the reasons for its success.

Akio Morita unveils another Sony mini-TV, 1960s

Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita during the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of Sony, 1996

Akio Morita himself called the main prerequisites for such dynamic development the constant desire to choose major goals and set ambitious scientific and technical tasks. In his book Made in Japan, he provides a simple diagram of such tactics: “Scene 1: A now familiar product (transistor radio, portable television, household VCR) is not yet on the market. Scene 2: experts say that no one needs such a product. Why make a small receiver if a big one has better sound? Why do we need a small screen TV in large rooms in American homes? Who needs a VCR with the abundance of interesting and varied programs on numerous television programs?

“Scene 3: the leader of the company clearly explains the philosophy of the new product - the transistor receiver will follow the owner to any place; Walkman, the world's first pocket audio player, will replace clatter and noise big city the musical environment that you have chosen yourself; the VCR eliminates the tyranny of television companies that force everyone to watch programs only at the time they are broadcast. Scene 4: Sony engineers get down to business and solve a complex problem, production workers ensure impeccable quality, and sales departments ensure a resounding market success of the new product.”

Sony has repeatedly introduced advanced video recording formats. Largely thanks to her, the concept of “high-resolution video” appeared.

From video to photo

Using the tactics Morita described, by the mid-1970s Sony had become the world's largest manufacturer of a variety of electronics, from small household appliances to computers and professional stereo systems. Not least thanks to Sony, video technologies began to actively develop, almost completely displacing film cameras from the amateur market. And the high-resolution video recording systems developed by the company had a significant impact even on cinema. However, for a long time the company did not pay attention to another profitable segment of the market - the production and sale of amateur photographic equipment. This omission was eliminated in 1981, when Sony made not just a breakthrough into the market, but a real revolution in photographic equipment, introducing the Mavica digital SLR camera (short for Magnetic Video Camera), from the appearance of which the history of modern digital photography. A CCD sensor measuring 10 x 12 mm, which contained 0.28 megapixels, was responsible for image registration in this device. The images generated by the matrix were stored in analog NTSC video format on a special flexible magnetic disk, reminiscent of modern floppy disks. The disc was rewritable, it could hold up to 50 frames, and there was also room for audio commentary.

Sony Mavica, 1981

Technically, Mavica was a continuation of Sony’s line of television video cameras based on CCD matrices, but the result of its work was not a video stream, but static pictures, still frames, which could be viewed on a TV or monitor screen. Otherwise, Mavica was a full-fledged DSLR with a familiar viewfinder and an original mount for interchangeable lenses, presented simultaneously with the camera: 25 mm f/2, 50 mm f/1.4 and 16-65 mm f/1.4 zoom.

Sony ProMavica MVC-2000 was supplied only to order, complete with a special disk drive

Having made a lot of noise and becoming one of the pioneers of digital photography, Sony calmed down and forgot about SLR cameras for more than twenty years. In 1986, the company introduced a large camera, the ProMavica MVC-2000, equipped with a 0.38-megapixel 2/3-inch CCD sensor and an excellent fixed 48-288 mm zoom lens with a constant aperture of f/1.4. The model lost its mirror and pentaprism, and its design and appearance began to resemble a video camera even more - but it was still a camera capable of shutter speeds in the range from 1/15 to 1/1000 s. The camera came with a special portable drive for magnetic disks, making it easier to view the pictures taken on a TV screen. This model, very interesting for its time, costing $3,395, never went on general sale, but was supplied only to order as a touchstone, with the help of which it was supposed to study the demand for such devices.

Sony Mavica MVC-C1 and Canon RC-250 XapShot, 1988

Demand was low, and Sony specialists, believing that the time for professional digital cameras had not yet come, concentrated on developing a simpler and cheaper consumer model. The result of their efforts was the appearance in 1988 of two models at once - Mavica MVC-C1 Personal Camera and MVC-A10 Sound Mavica costing $230 and $350, respectively. Both cameras were equipped with 2/3-inch matrices with a resolution of 0.28 megapixels and fast lenses with a focal length of 15 mm. It was possible to shoot only at a sensitivity value of 80 ISO in the shutter speed range from 1/60 to 1/500 s. You could record 25 photos on a magnetic disk, and the MVC-A10 Sound Mavica model also allowed you to record a ten-second commentary for each photo. The cameras turned out to be quite viable, but by no means revolutionary: in the same year, Canon and Konica released production models with similar functions and even design, and Pentax presented a prototype of a very similar EI camera.

Carl Zeiss optics were already present on the first Cyber-shot, which appeared in 1996

Cybersnapshots

In 1996, Sony released a digital camera with a very interesting design: a module with a built-in flash and a 35 mm lens could be rotated 180 degrees relative to the main body. It was a device of a completely new electronic formation, which was emphasized by its name - Sony Cyber-shot F1. Pictures with a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels were no longer recorded on a magnetic disk, but on a miniature memory card - and most importantly, they could be immediately viewed on a 1.8-inch display and, if any of them were not liked, immediately deleted. This model became the ancestor of the famous Cyber-shot family of cameras, thanks to which Sony, a few years later, became one of the leaders in the amateur photographic equipment market.

The 2-megapixel Cyber-shot F505 camera of an unusual design became the progenitor of all subsequent Sony “pseudo-mirrors”, up to the Cyber-shot R1 model

In 1999, a serious model, the Cyber-shot F505, appeared, which had a rather impressive-sized Vario-Sonnar zoom lens from Carl Zeiss that could move down or up relative to the camera body. The evolution of this is by no means compact camera To some extent, all subsequent “pseudo-DSLRs” of the company can be considered, up to the 10-megapixel Cyber-shot R1, released in 2005. Everyone expected the next step from a company that had mastered the production of such serious devices - the release of a full-fledged digital SLR camera. But the prerequisite for this important stage In the history of Sony, there was an event that literally shook the entire photo world: in February 2006, Konica Minolta announced its withdrawal from the photo market. It must be said that the companies Konica and Minolta, which merged only in 2003, were considered the luminaries of Japanese photo production. The first began producing format cameras on the Japanese islands back in the 19th century, the second began with the development of medium format photographic systems, analogues of the German Rolleiflex, in the 1920s. Later, Konica concentrated on the production of rangefinder cameras, film, paper and photo printing systems, while Minolta was actively involved in the production of SLR cameras and optics, winning the trust of not only amateurs, but also professional photographers around the world. And at the beginning of 2006, the already united company KonicaMinolta suddenly unexpectedly announced the closure of photo production and the transfer of all technological developments in this area to Sony Corporation! The latest addition was somehow lost amid the shock experienced by numerous adherents of the Minolta photo system. But this news meant one thing: very soon they would have to spend considerable sums to switch to another system.

But before everyone’s amazement had passed, in June of the same year Sony introduced its 10-megapixel amateur SLR camera A100, and a year and a half later released the semi-professional model A700. The Minolta heritage was felt in the characteristic angular design and abundance of various mechanical control units of the new DSLRs. Otherwise, the cameras turned out to be far from conservative: the engineers filled them with the most modern electronic systems, which made it possible to successfully fight for the most demanding consumer on the battlefields of the market. Along with the cameras, which inherited the mount type from Minolta, several Sony zoom lenses were presented, as well as a whole fleet of high-quality optics from Carl Zeiss, the legendary German concern with which the Japanese corporation has been working closely since 1995. Today Sony releases a variety of products onto the market with enviable regularity. digital cameras- from sleek compact models to semi-professional DSLRs - and is about to take on the laurels of the most prolific and energetic photo maker in the world.

Among fans of social networks, the model, actress and fashion blogger Sonya Yesman is quite famous. The charming girl gives advice to subscribers on how to eat, dress, and apply makeup. And also travel the world.

Sonya Yesman was born in June 1995 in St. Petersburg. But when the girl was 5 years old, the family immigrated to Canada and settled in Toronto. A few years later, Sonya's parents divorced. The head of the family returned to Russia. My daughter had a hard time going through this difficult period. Relationships with classmates did not work out. The girl gained a lot of weight. Due to lack of communication with peers, Sonya Yesman dropped out of school and switched to home schooling. The girl dreamed of returning to Russia and began to independently learn the language, which she had almost forgotten.

My daughter was helped out of a prolonged depression by her mother, who managed to set the girl up for a positive outlook on the world around her. Sonya began to study school subjects intensively and managed to graduate from school six months earlier than her peers.

Model business

At school, Sonya Yesman dreamed of becoming an actress. My mother supported me in this and even accompanied me to the courses. acting, classes in which were held on weekends. The girl turned out to be capable, and soon Sonya was invited to play in episodes of several films.

At that time, Esman had the figure of a model. The girl lost a lot of weight by giving up meat. With a height of 173 cm, the girl weighed 45 kg. This happened as a result of the severe shock the girl experienced after watching a program about the killing of animals.

A Canadian modeling agency invited 16-year-old Sonya Yesman to star in a commercial. The girl was noticed, and soon Sonya was offered to sign a lucrative long-term contract with the large Canadian agency Plutino Models.

Blogger

At the age of 17, Sonya Esman’s modeling biography began. After the release of the first commercial, the girl decided to create her own website classisinternal.com. The first videos of the model appeared on a personal blog in 2010. Esman films videos with a camera. The video blog soon gained popularity in Canada, the USA, as well as in Europe and Russia.

The model advocates a healthy lifestyle. For one period, Sonya Yesman was a supporter of vegetarianism. But at some point she began to feel unwell and returned to her normal diet. The blogger honestly admitted about all this, as well as the risks of veganism, on her own channel.

However, the model never thought of giving up a healthy lifestyle. The blogger plays sports, does not smoke, and does not drink alcohol. He does not consume fast food and eats only boiled meat. Every morning he starts with a run and a developed set of special exercises.

The girl also has her own style of clothing, which her subscribers like. Followers try to imitate their favorite model. And she, in turn, gives them valuable advice on this matter.

Sonya Yesman has a page in “ Instagram”, which is replete with dozens of photos from different countries. In her own video blog, the girl shares valuable advice on this matter: she talks about the countries she has visited, posting videos from the most beautiful places. It also tells you where you can have a good and inexpensive vacation, and what sights to see.

Fashion occupies a central place in Esman's video blog. New styles and trends, practical advice for teenagers, what clothes are best to wear and how to combine things. How to apply makeup correctly and what to do to avoid looking vulgar. Sonya also shares her own experience on how to overcome problems in communicating with peers and believe in your own strength.

By the way, Sonya Yesman managed to improve her relationship with her father thanks to her video blog. The girl is already in contact with her father, who supports his daughter and is proud of her success.

To her friends – that’s what the girl calls her own subscribers – Sonya advises to live, radiating radiance and positive emotions. Esman’s critics respond that it is easy to give positive advice by collaborating with many modeling agencies and fashion publications that give models clothes and accessories from brands such as “,” Givenchy, “Dolce &” and “Alexander Wang.”

Sonya Yesman answers her opponents that her wardrobe contains items from second-hand stores and vintage markets. Repeatedly, the clothes worn by a fashion model have become the subject of beauty research by journalists. Sonya loves dresses in the style of the 70s, short fur coats, jackets, things with bright stripes, shirts and knitwear. The girl is partial to hats and sunglasses.

In 2016, Sonya's followers noticed that in the photo the lips of their favorite began to look larger. The girl was credited with going to a plastic clinic for Botox injections and rhinoplasty. But the blogger herself refrained from commenting.

Personal life

The model and blogger has 4 tattoos on her body. But these images are quite modest and small in size. Most often, Sony fans see a design on the wrist, which serves as decoration.

Sonya Yesman loves animals. On official channel and pages on the social network there are a lot of funny pictures with animals and the blogger’s favorite pet, the parrot Pasha.

Another hobby of the girl is driving a car. The girl prefers Mercedes among car brands.

As far as can be judged from messages on social networks, Sonya Yesman’s personal life is not a topic on which she communicates on her blog and opens up with subscribers. For a long time followers wondered who the lucky guy was next to the beauty.

At the end of 2015, a candid photo shoot by Sonya Yesman and appeared online, in which it was clear that the young people were connected by something more than just playing for the camera. Soon information about Roma and Sonya’s romance began to spread online. But one day a young man posted the blogger’s phone number on his own page in “

Looking for something original in the history of the founding of Sony is more useless than writing numbers on flowing water, as the Japanese would put it. Like other successful enterprises, Sony started with a small initial capital ($500 is not a significant amount) and several people united by one idea.

But the history of Sony's development itself deserves close attention.

Now Sony Corporation is a large transnational corporation producing high-tech electronics.

Televisions, cameras, camcorders, game consoles, smartphones, e-books - that’s not full list products that have won the trust of amateurs and professionals.

Sony Corporation is a division of the Sony Group holding company and is also involved in its management. Other subsidiaries of the holding are engaged in film production (Sony Pictures Entertainment owns the film studios TriStars Pictures and Columbia Pictures), are responsible for the music sector (Sony Music Entertainment), the financial sector (Sony Financial Holdings), etc.

• The corporate headquarters is located in Tokyo.
• General Director is Kazuo Hirai, who took this post in 2012.
• The total number of employees worldwide is about 170,000 people.
• Sony Corporation's market capitalization is $17.6 billion, and its sales are more than $78 billion (Forbes data as of May 2013).
• In 2013, the Sony brand was recognized as one of the most influential at home (4th place in Japan’s Best Global Brands) and throughout the world (5th place in the Top Global Meaningful Brands Index).
• The Sony brand is consistently popular among our compatriots, appearing in the list of “Russians’ Favorite Brands” either in second (2011) or third (2010, 2012) line.

It's hard to believe, but initially, to avoid drawing attention to the country of origin, Sony printed the words "Made in Japan" in small font on export products. Once, customs even “wrapped” their products because the microscopic inscription was not visible!

The company was “hiding” because cheap Japanese products (paper umbrellas, toys, etc.) gave goods from the Land of the Rising Sun a bad reputation in the West.

However, Sony Corporation managed not only to overcome this stereotype, but also to turn the words “Made in Japan” into a guarantee High Quality!

How did you manage to achieve this?

The company was founded on May 7, 1946 by 38-year-old engineer Masaru Ibuka and 25-year-old physicist, and was then called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation).

Masaru and Akio knew each other since the war, when they worked together in a group of scientists who worked for the benefit of the army.

In the new company, the founding fathers applied the rule of “divide and conquer.” Being a true technical genius, Ibuka became closely involved in the development of new products, while the enterprising Morita took up solving sales issues.

In his book of memoirs “Made in Japan,” Akio admitted that meeting Masaru turned out to be one of the greatest gifts of fate for him.

At first there were only 20 employees on staff. Could they imagine , that after decades the company’s staff will increase 8000 times?!

Despite the increased number, even now Sony employees perceive each other as one family. In this they adopted the philosophy of Akio Morita, a brilliant manager who knew how to unite and mobilize the team to accomplish assigned tasks.

He understood very well that “no matter how lucky you are... smart or dexterous, your business and its fate are in the hands of the people you hire.” Morita sought to know each employee personally and, to strengthen working relationships, interacted almost daily with young lower-level managers during lunch.

The company structure was also strengthened by the lifelong employment system, revived by the United States at Japanese enterprises in the post-war period. But since Sony has always differed from other Japanese enterprises in its openness to new ideas and flexibility, the company's management took into account the needs of workers, introducing the practice of transferring them from one job to another within the company.

At first, the company was located on the 4th floor of a burnt-out department store in the destroyed center of Tokyo, but soon moved to the old district of the capital. To get into the “new office”, one had to bend down and walk under the clotheslines on which the neighbors were drying diapers.

This shocked Morita's relatives who visited him so much that they reported to his parents that Akio had become an anarchist. However, Morita's father repeatedly lent money to develop the company. “Material assistance” brought him good dividends - he later became one of the largest shareholders of Sony.

What did the inventors spend the money they received on?

Ibuka and Morita did not immediately find themselves in business. They were eager to create something fundamentally new, but at first they produced either radio set-top boxes, electric rice cookers, or heated pillows.

The search for my own business was crowned with success after 3 years.

In 1949, Morita bought an American tape recorder, combining business with pleasure - both the music could be listened to, and the acquisition could be disassembled and examined.

The information carrier in the tape recorder was unreliable and expensive wire, and Japanese engineers were inspired by the idea of ​​​​creating a tape recorder. Tape media had a higher fidelity and made it easy to change the recording - it was enough to paste a new piece of tape in the right place.

The idea of ​​a new product was not received with a bang by the company's employees - they had listened to Masaru's fantastic ideas for too long and no longer trusted them much. There was an urgent need to prove to colleagues (and especially to the accountant) that the project was worth the money and effort.

Ibuka and Morita decided to convince the chief accountant that they were right in the usual way for us - they took us to a restaurant. While he was eating both cheeks, his friends were praising their idea. Soon the accountant, with a full stomach and not quite a sober head, gave the go-ahead for scientific research.

The company began developing its own tape media for sound recording. Cellophane was initially used as a base, which was cut into long strips and covered with experimental compounds. But even durable types of cellophane, after a couple of runs through the tape mechanism, stretched and distorted the sound.

The next material for magnetic tape was high-quality paper. It was cut and glued by hand, so the company's founders actually had a hand in creating the product. But paper was no good either.

After the company obtained plastic and developed its own technology for its use, the matter moved forward.

As for the magnetic coating of the tape, Japanese researchers obtained it from iron oxalate, which was pre-fried in a frying pan!

I would like you to clearly understand that at first no one in the company really knew how to make this magnetic tape, but, nevertheless, this did not stop anyone. And already in 1965 IBM company Sony chose tape for storage devices in computers.

In 1950, the first tape recorder was released. It weighed 35 kg and cost 170,000 yen, i.e. $472 (a technician after university then received $30 per month).

Everyone liked the technical novelty, but it did not sell - inventing unique technologies and products was not enough. Morita took up marketing and managed to find consumers who saw in the tape recorder not an expensive toy, but useful thing. The Supreme Court of Japan immediately purchased 20 tape recorders due to a shortage of stenographers in post-war period. Schools are the next market.

In 1952, after Ibuka’s trip to the USA, the partners got the idea to buy a license for transistor, which would solve the issues of reducing the size of radio receivers. The following year, Morita travels to New York to complete the patent acquisition.

During research in the field of transistors, the company's employees discovered and described the tunneling effect in diodes, Leo Esaki subsequently received the Nobel Prize.

In 1955, Akio decides to change the name of the company - with the unpronounceable “Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo” it is difficult to conquer the Western market.

The business of Japanese engineers was related to sound, and therefore the starting point was the word “sonus” (Latin for “sound”), the meaning was also suitable for the slang “sonny” (English “son”), as smart guys were called then. By crossing out one letter from “sonny,” which means “to lose money” in Japanese, Morita got “sony.”

So the corporation acquired a simple and memorable name, which became not only the name of the company, but also the brand of the goods produced.

In 1955 Sony introduces Japan's first transistor radio, the TR-55. Two years later, the company launched the first "pocket" receiver, the TR-63, into the US market, dubbed "the beginning of the end of the American consumer electronics industry."

In promoting its product, Sony resorted to a trick - the very first “pocket” receivers were still slightly larger than the pocket of a classic men’s shirt. For company representatives advertising the new product, special shirts with enlarged pockets were issued, into which the receivers could already fit!

In 1960 year Sony introduces the world's first transistor TV. The fact is that at that time televisions were incredibly huge because they worked on electronic vacuum tubes. Transistors were much smaller in size. The Japanese wanted to reduce the size of televisions using transistors, which they did brilliantly.

In 1961 The world's first portable TV appears.

The device caused a real sensation among consumers, even despite its high cost. It allowed

In 1961 year, 15 years after the founding of the business, the company's representative office in the USA, Sony Corporation of America, became the first Japanese company to be included in the lists of the New York stock exchange. The issue of shares brings its founders 4 million dollars! Then the cost of one share was $1.75; now the company’s securities can be purchased for an average of $18 (data from May 2014).

This is not the highest price for Sony shares; the shares reached their highest value in March 2000 and then cost almost $150 per share. Below is a chart of changes in the company's share price. The picture can be enlarged by clicking on it:

In 1963 This year the company introduces a new product - the world's first transistor video cassette recorder.

The XVIII Summer Olympic Games of 1964, held in Tokyo, contributed to the growth of Japanese demand for color televisions - everyone wanted to follow the progress of the competition (in the final standings, Japan then took 3rd place, behind the USA and the USSR). Sony is successfully developing the market segment of portable TVs, where it does not meet competitors.

What is the secret of the company's success?

Let us note the clear organization of the system - in order to effectively perform tasks, the company's structure was divided into groups (scientific knowledge base, project, business group), which had their own functions, but closely interacted with each other.

In addition to such objective factors as new technologies and competent management of the company, the accuracy of the Japanese, which, as Morita believed, was in their blood, also played a role: “ Perhaps this has something to do with the care with which we have to learn to draw the complex hieroglyphs of our language.”

In 1968 In 2009, Sony began production of a color TV with a Trinitron kinescope, for the creation of which the National Academy of Television was awarded 4 years later. will award the company an Emmy Award.

In 1971 Sony introduces the world's first professional cassette format, U-matic. VCRs of this format were the first players in which the film was located in a closed housing. The "" company immediately bought 5,000 of these VCRs to train its mechanics and salespeople.

In 1975 year Betamax appears - f format video recordings for home use; At the same time, the household video cassette recorder appeared.

IN 1979 The company releases the first portable cassette audio player with Walkman headphones. The idea of ​​its creation belongs to , who noticed that there are a great many people who do not want to part with their favorite music - even his daughter, once returning from a trip, the first thing she did was not say hello to her mother, but ran to the tape recorder.

In 1980 year the company introduces Betakam, a half-inch cassette format for home use.

In 1983 Sony and Philips released the first CDs. Initially, discs with a diameter of 11.5 cm were planned, but at Sony's insistence the size was increased to 12 cm - the company wanted the disc to be able to record Beethoven's 9th "chorale" symphony in its entirety, lasting 74 minutes.

The year 1990 became the most fruitful year for innovative developments - Sony released about five thousand new products!

In 1994 In 2009, the company launched the PlayStation gaming console on the Japanese market. This console will conquer a wide market, even entering folklore:

In Russian language lesson:

Teacher: What prefixes do you know?

Vovochka: XboxAndSony PlayStation.

By the way, these game consoles are popular not only among schoolchildren. This funny Sony ad shows how... game console turns a grown man into a child.

In the 90s, Cyber-Shot digital cameras, VAIO personal computers, DVD video players, Memory Stick memory cards and much more appeared.

Ibuka Masaru passed away in 1997, and in 1999. Their creative tandem, which lasted more than half a century, led Sony to the heights of success. The lines dedicated to Masaru's farewell say: "Every employee, starting with Akio Morita, worked to make Masaru Ibuki's dream come true." It can be said that cherished wish Masaru came true - the life's work of Japanese businessmen, the Sony company, still lives, develops and wins the trust of more and more new customers.

In 2001, Sony, together with the Swedish company Ericsson, founded a company specializing in mobile phones and accessories. In 2011, having bought out their share from partners, Sony became the sole owner of Sony Ericsson and renamed the company Sony Mobile Communications.

With the new brand name “Xperia”, the company is strengthening its position in the smartphone market.

Since 2005, the company begins to produce televisions under the new brand “BRAVIA”, and already in 2006 it ranks first in the world in sales of plasma televisions.

As for our market, in Russia the history of Sony began in 1991. In 1997, the company owned the highest share Russian market TV sales – 22%. In 2013, Sony was awarded the national Product of the Year award, receiving as many as 9 awards.

Is Sony dying?

However, not everything is so rosy. The fact is that over the past five years, not counting 2013, Sony has been unprofitable. That is, she did not make a profit for four years, except for 2013.

The losses are caused by a reduction in Sony's global share in the production of almost all types of electronics. The leading position of the Japanese manufacturer was shaken by companies from Asian countries (South Korea, Taiwan and China), with whose cheap labor it was not easy to compete.

The 2011 earthquake in Japan led to forced plant downtime and additional losses.

The strengthening national currency also played a negative role - the high exchange rate of the yen increased the cost of Japanese goods and made exports less profitable.

Many analysts predict the imminent demise of Sony and advise selling shares of this concern.

To finance its business restructuring program, the company is selling some of its office buildings.

Thus, the sale of a 37-story skyscraper with an area of ​​76 thousand sq.m. in Manhattan brought Sony just over $1 billion in 2013. For 3 years, Sony will still rent the space it previously owned.

To reduce costs, a decision has already been made to cut 5 thousand jobs, as well as to sell the Vaio computer and laptop division. The TV production line is planned to be separated into a separate company.

I don’t know what this is connected with, perhaps due to the fact that the founding fathers passed on to another world. They retired in the mid-nineties, but until their very last days they continued to advise and help their colleagues.

• Masaru Ibuka was born on April 11, 1908, died on December 19, 1997.
• born January 26, 1921, died October 3, 1999.

In 2000, Sony's share price reached an all-time high ($149.71) and then began to decline rapidly. They reached a historical low in November 2012, when they cost $9.74 per share.

With the passing of its founders, Sony seemed to have lost its sense of fashionable and unusually interesting gadgets. The company has become completely different. More recently, the company was a true pioneer in the world of electronics and led the market.

Under Morita, new products and innovations were placed at the forefront of the company's development. With the arrival of new managers trained in MBA programs, innovation took a back seat, and the first priority was given to reducing production costs and increasing production volumes and sales of existing products.

Previously, the company's management devoted 85% of its time to issues related to research and development, 10% to personnel issues and only the remaining 5% to finance.

Now, most of the time at management planning meetings is devoted to how to increase production volumes, how to avoid spending on one’s own research and innovation in favor of mass production of other people’s developments, how to extend the depreciation period of equipment and other ways to reduce production costs.

The once most popular Walkmans have been pushed out of the market by iPods, which, by the way, appeared in 2001. But they firmly held the palm in this market for almost 20 years.

The same goes for many other areas in which the legendary Japanese brand has lost its technological edge, although some of Sony's products still deserve praise. For example, it was shot with an inexpensive waterproof camera Sony DSC-TX200, which costs about 10,000 rubles. In my opinion excellent quality and a very affordable price for an underwater camera with HD video recording.

I have had a Sony car radio in my car for many years now. I've been using it for eight years cell phone Sony-Ericsson, which still works great, except that it is outdated. It just needs to be replaced with a battery, otherwise it runs out quickly. I also still have a Sony digital camera that I bought back in 2006. True, the shooting mode switch is a little sticky, but you can get used to it.

While I was writing the article, I was surprised at how many gadgets I have of this brand, although I never considered myself a fan or a fan of this brand.

By the way, in 2006, Sony Corporation inherited all the technological developments from the leaders in the photo industry, KONICA-MINOLTA, which curtailed the production of cameras in 2006. It is worth noting that Konica and Minolta, which merged only in 2003, were considered the luminaries of Japanese photo production.

Both companies have existed since early XIX century. Only Konica specialized in the production of rangefinder cameras, photographic film, paper and photo printing systems, and Minolta specialized in the production of SLR cameras and optics, which were of a fairly high class and were valued not only by amateurs, but also professional photographers worldwide.

Today, Sony produces a huge variety of cameras equipped with high-quality optics from Carl Zeiss, the legendary German concern with which the Japanese corporation has been working closely since 1995.

Sony remains to be Sony, just like in the slogan of past years - “it’s a Sony” (“this is Sony”).

Now the company has a new slogan. In 2009, the famous advertising phrase “like.no.other” (“like no one else”) was replaced by a new one: “make.believe” (“make it a reality”). This motto accurately reflects the company's philosophy that dreams should come true and plans should be realized; And Sony helps bring ideas to life.

The logo remains the same; the ’73 trademark is currently used. Back in 1981, as part of the celebration of the 35th anniversary of the founding of Sony, the company's logo was planned to be changed. But then, after going through the options, Ibuka decided that none of the proposed ones was better than the existing one. And why change anything, if it is with these letters, simple and expressive, that Sony has entered its name into the list of innovative companies? Let's hope that the new management of the company will remember past victories and traditions and regain the lost greatness of the brand that once thundered throughout the world!

Since 2008, the company has been a participant in the global Eco-Patent Commons project, created to solve environmental problems. Companies participating in the project provide free access to their patents for technologies and inventions that can improve environmental situation.

Sony is generally one of the most environmentally friendly companies. In 2013, the company took an honorable 11th place in the “Greenest Brands” rating compiled by the Interband agency based on 83 criteria.

In a number of its eco-products, Sony uses kinetic energy. To recharge a “twist and click” digital camera, you need to rotate its body, while you can “charge” stereo “push and play” headphones by pulling the wire out of the case.

Sony specialists have developed new “biobatteries” that generate electricity by breaking down glucose under the action of enzymes.

By 2050, according to the environmental action schedule, the company plans to achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions for both its factories and its products.

Personally, I like this company and the reliability of the devices it produces. The only wish is that it keeps up with the times and does not lag behind such geniuses and innovators of the industry as Samsung, who are not afraid to open new markets, create new products and trends in the world of consumer electronics.

In conclusion, I suggest you look at the history of Sony’s development in the form of infographics. Click on the picture to enlarge.