Sony History

Sony Corporation commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Kōnan Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It ranked 87th on the 2012 list of Fortune Global 500.Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics products for the consumer and professional markets.

Sony Corporation is the electronics business unit and the parent company of the Sony Group, which is engaged in business through its four operating segments – Electronics (including video games, network services and medical business), Motion pictures, Music and Financial Services. These make Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the world. Sony's principal business operations include Sony Corporation (Sony Electronics in the U.S.), Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Mobile Communications (formerly Sony Ericsson), and Sony Financial. Sony is among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders and third-largest television manufacturer in the world, after Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics. 

The Sony Group is a Japan-based corporate group primarily focused on the Electronics (such as AV/IT products and components), Game (such as PlayStation), Entertainment (such as motion pictures and music), and Financial Services (such as insurance and banking) sectors. The group consists of Sony Corporation (holding and electronics), Sony Computer Entertainment (game), Sony Pictures Entertainment (motion pictures), Sony Music Entertainment (music), Sony/ATV Music Publishing (music publishing), Sony Financial Holdings(financial services) and others. 

Its founders Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka derived the name from sonus, the Latin word for sound, and also from the English slang word "sonny", since they considered themselves to be "sonny boys", a loan word into Japanese which in the early 1950s connoted smart and presentable young men. 

The following timeline offers a look at key products resulting from Sony's R&D efforts over the years. On a deeper level, it is a reflection of the Sony Spirit itself where creative minds resonate with each other to bring new emotion and wonder to the world. 

• Sept 1955 -Japan's first transistor radio, TR-55 
• Oct 1968-Trinitron color TV KV-1310 
• May 1975-Betamax home-use video cassette recorder SL-6300 
• July 1979-Headphone stereo Walkman TPS-L2 
• Oct 1988-World's first compact disc player CDP-101 
• Jan 1985-8 millimeter camcorder CCD-V8 
• Nov 1992-MiniDisc (MD) system launched (4 models including MZ-1)
• July 1997-VAIO PC launched in Japan 
• May 1999-Super Audio CD Player SCD-1 
• June-Entertainment Robot "AIBO" ERS-110 
• April 2003- World's first Blu-ray Disc Recorder BDZ-S77 
• Oct 2004-Digital HD camcorder HDR-FX1. First consumer camcorder to comply with HDV 1080i standard 
• Oct 2005-BRAVIA LCD brand launched in Japan 
• July 2006-Digital SLR camera α100 
• Nov-PlayStation 3 
• Dec 2007-World's first OLED TV XEL-1 

Environmental record 

In November 2011, Sony was ranked 9th (jointly with Panasonic) in Greenpeace's Guide to Greener Electronics. This chart grades major electronics companies on their environmental work. The company scored 3.6/10, incurring a penalty point for comments it has made in opposition to energy efficiency standards in California. It also risks a further penalty point in future editions for being a member of trade associations that have commented against energy efficiency standards. Together with Philips, Sony receives the highest score for energy policy advocacy after calling on the EU to adopt an unconditional 30% reduction target for greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Meanwhile, it receives full marks for the efficiency of its products. In 2007, Sony ranked 14th on theGreenpeace guide. Sony fell from its earlier 11th place ranking due to Greenpeace's claims that Sony had double standards in their waste policies.

Since 1976, Sony has had an Environmental Conference. Sony's policies address their effects on global warming, the environment, and resources. They are taking steps to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that they put out as well as regulating the products they get from their suppliers in a process that they call "green procurement". Sony has said that they have signed on to have about 75 percent of their Sony Building running on geothermal power. The "Sony Take Back Recycling Program" allow consumers to recycle the electronics products that they buy from Sony by taking them to eCycle (Recycling) drop-off points around the U.S. The company has also developed a biobattery that runs on sugars and carbohydrates that works similarly to the way living creatures work. This is the most powerful small biobattery to date. 

In 2000, Sony faced criticism for a document entitled "NGO Strategy" that was leaked to the press. The document involved the company's surveillance of environmental activists in an attempt to plan how to counter their movements. It specifically mentioned environmental groups that were trying to pass laws that held electronics-producing companies responsible for the clean up of the toxic chemicals contained in their merchandise.