Biography sony company structures
Sony
Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation
"SONY" and "Sony Corporation" redirect here. For the American subsidiary, see Sony Organization of America. For other uses, see Sony (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Sany.
Sony Group Corporation[c] (formerly Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K.[d] and Sony Corporation[e]) is a Japanese multinationalconglomerate headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.[6] The Sony Team comprises entities such as Sony Corporation, Sony Semiconductor Solutions, Sony Entertainment (including Sony Pictures and Sony Music Group), Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Financial Group, and others.
Sony was established in as Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita. This electronics company, known for creating products such as the transistor radio TR, the abode video tape recorder CV, the portable audio player Walkman, and the compact disc player CDP, embarked on diverse business ventures.
In , Sony acquired CBS Records, and in , it acquired Columbia Pictures. The firm also introduced the home video game console PlayStation in , which was the first of the eponymous brand. In Japan, Sony expanded into the financial sector.
In , Sony transformed into a holding company, handing over the name Sony Firm to its subsidiary as the electronics company.
Sony, with its 55 percent market share in the image sensor market, is the largest manufacturer of image sensors, the second largest camera manufacturer, and is among the semiconductor sales leaders.[7][8][9] It is the world's largest player in the premium TV market for a television of at least 55 inches ( centimeters) with a price higher than $2, as well as second largest TV brand by market participate and, as of , the third largest television manufacturer in the world by annual sales figures.[10][11][12][13]
Although not being a part of any traditional keiretsu, Sony has a weak tie to the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Community (SMFG), which traces its roots to the Mitsuizaibatsu.[14] This connection dates back to the s when it was the only bank the company dealt with.[15] Sony is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (in which it is a constituent of the Nikkei and TOPIX Core30 indeces) with an additional listing in the form of American depositary receipts listed in the New York Stock Exchange (traded since , making it one of the oldest Japanese companies to be listed on an American exchange),[15] and was ranked 88th on the Fortune Global list.[16] In , the firm was ranked 57th in the Forbes Global [17]
History
Main article: History of Sony
Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo
Sony began in the wake of Society War II.
In , Masaru Ibuka started an electronics shop in Shirokiya,[19] a department store building in the Nihonbashi area of Tokyo. The company started with a capital of ¥,[20] and a total of eight employees.[21] On 7 May , Ibuka was joined by Akio Morita to establish a firm called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (東京通信工業, Tōkyō Tsūshin Kōgyō, Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation).[22] The company built Japan's first tape recorder, called the Type-G.[22][23] In , the company changed its name to "Sony".[24]
Name
Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo founders Morita and Ibuka realized that to achieve success and grow, their business had to expand to the global market, which required labeling their products with a short and easy brand name.[25] While looking for a romanized name, they at first strongly considered using their initials, TTK.
The primary reason they did not is that the railway company Tokyo Kyuko was famous as TTK.[22] The company occasionally used the syllabic acronym "Totsuko" in Japan, but during his visit to the United States, Morita discovered that Americans had trouble pronouncing that name.
Another early name that was tried out for a while was "Tokyo Teletech" until Akio Morita discovered that there was an American company already using Teletech as a brand name.[26]
The call "Sony" was chosen for the brand as a mix of two words: one was the Latin word "sonus", which is the root of sonic and sound, and the other was "sonny", a common slang word used in s America to call a young boy.[27][28] In s Japan, "sonny boys" was a loan word in Japanese, which connoted smart and presentable young men, which Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka considered themselves to be.[27]
The first Sony-branded product, the TRtransistor radio, appeared in , but the company identify did not change to Sony until January [29]
At the period of the change, it was extremely unusual for a Japanese company to use Roman letters to spell its name instead of writing it in kanji.
The move was not without opposition: TTK's principal bank at the time, Mitsui, had tough 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 call tied to any particular industry.
Eventually, both Ibuka and Mitsui Bank's chairman gave their approval.[22]
Globalization
According to Schiffer, Sony's TR radio "cracked open the U.S. market and launched the new industry of consumer microelectronics."[30] By the mids, American teens had begun buying portable transistor radios in huge numbers, helping to propel the fledgling industry from an estimated , units in to 5&#;million units by the conclude of [31]
Sony co-founder Akio Morita founded Sony Corporation of America in [21] In the process, he was struck by the mobility of employees between American companies, which was unheard of in Japan at that time.[21] When he returned to Japan, he encouraged experienced, middle-aged employees of other companies to reevaluate their careers and consider joining Sony.[21] The company filled many positions in this manner, and inspired other Japanese companies to do the same.[21] Moreover, Sony played a major role in the development of Japan as a powerful exporter during the s, s and s,[32] supplying the U.S.
Military with bomb parts used in the Vietnam War.[33] It also helped to significantly improve American perceptions of "made in Japan" products.[34] Established for its production quality, Sony was able to charge above-market prices for its consumer electronics and resisted lowering prices.[34]
In , Masaru Ibuka handed the position of president over to his co-founder Akio Morita.
Sony began a life insurance company in , one of its many peripheral businesses.
Sony’s organizational structure incorporates several different types of org structures. It is primarily based on functional and business-type groups but includes geographic divisions and elements found in matrix organizations, too.
Amid a global recession in the early s, electronics sales dropped and the company was forced to slash prices.[34] Sony's profits fell sharply. "It's over for Sony", one analyst concluded. "The company's optimal days are behind it."[34]
Around that time, Norio Ohga took up the role of president.
He encouraged the development of the compact disc (CD) in the s and s, and of the PlayStation in the first s. Ohga went on to purchase CBS Records in and Columbia Pictures in , greatly expanding Sony's media presence. Ohga would succeed Morita as leader executive officer in [35][citation needed]
Under the vision of co-founder Akio Morita[36] and his successors, the company had aggressively expanded into new businesses.[32] Part of its motivation for doing so was the pursuit of "convergence", linking film, music and digital electronics via the Internet.[32] This growth proved unrewarding and unprofitable,[32] threatening Sony's ability to charge a premium on its products[36] as well as its brand name.[36] In , Howard Stringer replaced Nobuyuki Idei as chief executive officer, marking the first second that a foreigner had jog a major Japanese electronics stable.
Stringer helped to reinvigorate the company's struggling media businesses, encouraging blockbusters such as Spider-Man while cutting 9, jobs.[32] He hoped to sell off peripheral business and focus the company again on electronics.[36] Furthermore, he aimed to increase cooperation between business units,[36] which he described as "silos" operating in isolation from one another.[37] In a propose to provide a unified logo for its global operations, Sony introduced a slogan known as "e" in [35][citation needed]
Despite some successes, the company faced continued struggles in the mid- to lates.[32] In , Kazuo Hirai was promoted to president and CEO, replacing Stringer.
Shortly thereafter, Hirai outlined his company-wide initiative, named "One Sony" to revive Sony from years of financial losses and bureaucratic management structure, which proved difficult for former CEO Stringer to accomplish, partly due to differences in business culture and native languages between Stringer and some of Sony's Japanese divisions and subsidiaries.
Hirai outlined three major areas of focus for Sony's electronics business, which include imaging technology, gaming and mobile technology, as good as a focus on reducing the major losses from the television business.[38]
In February , Sony announced the sale of its Vaio PC division to a new corporation owned by investment fund Japan Industrial Partners and spinning its TV division into its own corporation as to make it more nimble to turn the unit around from past losses totaling $&#;billion over a decade.[39] Later that month, they announced that they would be closing 20 stores.[40] In April, the company announced that they would be selling &#;million shares in Square Enix (roughly percent of the game company's total shares) in a deal worth approximately $48&#;million.[41] In May the company announced it was forming two joint ventures with Shanghai Oriental Pearl Group to manufacture and market Sony's PlayStation game consoles and associated software in China.[42]
In , Sony purchased Toshiba's image sensor business.[43]
It was reported in December by multiple news outlets that Sony was considering restructuring its U.S.
operations by merging its TV & film business, Sony Pictures Show, with its gaming business, Sony Interactive Entertainment. According to the reports, such a restructuring would have placed Sony Pictures under Sony Interactive's CEO, Andrew Property, though House would not acquire taken over day-to-day operations of the film studio.[45][46][47] According to one report, Sony was fix to make a final conclusion on the possibility of the merger of the TV, motion picture, & gaming businesses by the end of its fiscal year in March of the obeying year ().[45]
In , Sony sold its lithium-ion battery business to Murata Manufacturing.[48][49][50]
In , Sony combined its mobile, TV and camera businesses.[51][52]
On 1 April , Sony Electronics Corporation was established as an intermediate holding company to own and oversee its electronics and IT solutions businesses.
On 19 May , the organization announced that it would alter its name to Sony Organization Corporation as of 1 April Subsequently, Sony Electronics Corporation would be renamed to Sony Corporation.[53] On the same day the company announced that it would turn Sony Financial Holdings (currently Sony Financial Group), of which Sony already owns % of shares, to a wholly owned subsidiary through a takeover bid.[54]
On 1 April , Sony Company was renamed Sony Group Firm.
On the same day, Sony Mobile Communications Inc. absorbed Sony Electronics Corporation, Sony Imaging Products & Solutions Inc., and Sony Home Entertainment & Sound Products Inc. and changed its trade name to Sony Corporation.[55]
Formats and technologies
Further information: List of Sony trademarks
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, while its accomplishment in the early years owes to a smooth capitalization on the Digital Compact Cassette common introduced by Philips,[56] with which Sony went on to relish a decades-long technological relationship in various areas.
Sony (either alone or with partners) has introduced several of the most widespread recording formats, including the inch floppy disk, compact disc and Blu-ray disc.[57]
Video recording
Sony introduced U-matic, the world's first videocassette format, in , but the usual was unpopular for domestic employ due to the high price.[58] The company subsequently launched the Betamax format in [59] Sony was involved in the videotape format war of the soon s, when they were marketing the Betamax system for video cassette recorders against the VHS format developed by JVC.[60] In the end, VHS gained critical mass in the marketbase and became the worldwide standard for consumer VCRs.[60]
Betamax is, for all practical purposes, an obsolete format.
This electronics company, known for creating products such as the transistor radio TRthe home video tape recorder CVthe portable audio player Walkmanand the compact disc player CDPembarked on diverse business ventures. The company also introduced the home video game console PlayStation inwhich was the first of the eponymous brand. In Japan, Sony expanded into the financial sector. InSony transformed into a holding company, handing over the name Sony Corporation to its subsidiary as the electronics company.Sony's professional-oriented component video format called Betacam, which was derived from Betamax, was used until when Sony announced it was stopping production of all remaining 1/2-inch video tape recorders and players, including the Digital Betacam format.[61]
In , Sony launched their Handycam products and the Video8 format.[62] Video8 and the follow-on hi-band Hi8 format became popular in the consumer camcorder market.
In Sony launched the 4&#;mm DAT or Digital Audio Tape as a new digital audio tape standard.[63]
Visual display
Sony held a patent for its proprietary Trinitron until
Sony introduced the Triluminos Display, the company's proprietary color reproduction enhancing technology, in , featured in the world's first LED-backlit LCD televisions.[64] It was widely used in other Sony's products as well, including computer monitors, laptops, and smartphones.[65] In , Sony released a new line of televisions with an improved version of the technology, which incorporated quantum dots in the backlight system.
It was the first commercial operate of quantum dots.[66][67]
In , the company revealed a prototype of an ultrafine RGB LED present, which it calls the Crystal LED Display.[68]
Audio recording
Sony used the Compact Cassette format in many of its tape recorders and players, including the Walkman, the world's first portable music player.[69] Sony introduced the MiniDisc format in as an alternative to Philips DCC or Digital Compact Cassette and as a successor to the Compact Cassette.[70] Since the introduction of MiniDisc, Sony has attempted to promote its own audio compression technologies under the ATRAC brand, against the more widely used MP3.
Until late , Sony's Network Walkman line of digital portable song players did not support the MP3 standard natively.
In , Sony built upon the MiniDisc format by releasing Hi-MD. Hi-MD allows the playback and recording of audio on newly introduced 1 GB Hi-MD discs in addition to playback and recording on regular MiniDiscs.
In addition to saving audio on the discs, Hi-MD allows the storage of computer files such as documents, videos and photos.
Audio encoding
In , Sony challenged the industry standard Dolby Digital surround sound format with a newer and more advanced proprietary motion picture digital audio format called SDDS (Sony Dynamic Digital Sound).[71] This format employed eight channels () of audio opposed to just six used in Dolby Digital at the time.[71] Ultimately, SDDS has been vastly overshadowed by the preferred DTS (Digital Theatre System) and Dolby Digital standards in the motion picture industry.
SDDS was solely developed for use in the theatre circuit; Sony never intended to develop a home theatre version of SDDS.[72][73]
Sony and Philips jointly developed the Sony-Philips digital interface format (S/PDIF) and the high-fidelity audio system SACD.
The latter became entrenched in a format war with DVD-Audio. Still, neither gained a major foothold with the general public. CDs had been preferred by consumers because of the ubiquitous presence of CD drives in consumer devices until the early s when the iPod and streaming services became available.[74]
In , Sony introduced LDAC, a proprietaryaudio coding technology which allows streaming high-resolution audio over Bluetooth connections at up to &#;kbit/s at 32 bit/96&#;kHz.
Angola Transparency. Sony Group Enterprise, a prominent Japanese multinational conglomerate, has established a complex organizational structure that supports its diverse business operations. These groups are responsible for specific functions within the company, ensuring operational efficiency and effectiveness. This division enables the company to focus its resources and efforts on specific businesses, fostering innovation and product development.Sony also contributed it as part of the Android Open Source Project starting from Android "Oreo", enabling every OEM to integrate this standard into their own Android devices freely. However the decoder library is proprietary, so receiving devices call for licenses.
On 17 September , the Japan Audio Society (JAS) certified LDAC with their Hi-Res Audio Wireless certification. Currently the only codecs with the Hi-Res Audio Wireless certification are LDAC and LHDC, another competing common.
Optical storage
Sony demonstrated an optical digital audio disc in and soon joined hands with Philips, another major contender for the storage technology, to establish a worldwide standard.[75] In , the two company jointly announced the Compact Disc (CD).
In , Sony launched the Discman series, an expansion of the Walkman brand to portable CD players. Sony began to improve recital and capacity of the novel format.
Sony's Organizational Structure [Interactive Chart] | Organimi: Sony has a matrix organizational structure primarily based on function-based groups and product/business divisions. The structure also incorporates geographical divisions.It launched write-once optical discs (WO) and magneto-optical discs which were around MB size for the specific use of archival data storage, in and respectively.[76]
In the preliminary s, two high-density optical storage standards were being developed: one was the MultiMedia Compact Disc (MMCD), backed by Philips and Sony, and the other was the Super Density Disc (SD), supported by Toshiba and many others.
Philips and Sony abandoned their MMCD format and agreed upon Toshiba's SD format with only one modification. The unified disc format was called DVD and was introduced in
Sony was one of the primary developers of the Blu-ray optical disc format, the newest usual for disc-based content delivery.
The first Blu-ray players became commercially available in The format emerged as the standard for HD media over the competing format, Toshiba's HD DVD, after a two-year-long high-definition optical disc format war.
Sony's laser communication devices for small satellites rely on the technologies developed for the company's optical disc products.[77]
Disk storage
In , Sony introduced 90&#;mm micro diskettes, better known as inch (89&#;mm) floppy disks, which it had developed at a moment when there were 4" floppy disks, and many variations from different companies, to replace the then on-going " floppy disks.
Sony had great success and the format became dominant. " floppy disks gradually became obsolete as they were replaced by current media formats. Sony held more than a 70 percent share of the market when it decided to pull the plug on the format in [78][79]
Sony still develops magnetic tape storage technologies along with IBM,[80] and are one of only two manufacturers of Linear Tape-Open (LTO) cartridges.
Flash memory
In , Sony launched the Memory Stick format, the flash memory cards for use in Sony lines of digital cameras and portable music players. It has seen little support outside of Sony's own products, with Secure Digital cards (SD) commanding considerably greater popularity.
Sony has made updates to the Memory Stick format with Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick Micro.
Sony’s organizational structure facilitates business operations in the electronics, gaming, entertainment, and financial services markets. The company’s corporate structure reflects the plan and system that determine the relative positions and functions of organizational members.
The company has also released USB flash trip products, branded under the Micro Vault line.[81]
Communication
Sony introduced FeliCa, a contactless IC card technology primarily used in contactless payment, as a result of the company's joint development and commercialization of Near-Field Communication (NFC) with Philips.
The standard is largely offered in two forms, either chips embedded in smartphones or plastic cards with chips embedded in them. Sony plans to carry out this technology in train systems across Asia.[82]
In , Sony launched the ELTRES, the company's proprietary low-power wide-area wireless communication (LPWAN) standard.[83]
Video gaming
Until , Sony had little direct involvement with the video game industry.
The corporation supplied components for other consoles, such as the sound chip for the Super Famicom from Nintendo, and operated a video game studio, Sony Imagesoft.[84] As part of a joint proposal between Nintendo and Sony that began as early as , the two companies worked to create a CD-ROM version of the Super Famicom,[85] though Nintendo denied the existence of the Sony deal as late as March [86] At the Consumer Electronics Show in June , Sony revealed a Super Famicom with a built-in CD-ROM ride, named the "Play Station" (also known as SNES-CD).
However, a day after the announcement at CES, Nintendo announced that it would be breaking its partnership with Sony, opting to proceed with Philips instead but using the same technology.[87] The deal was broken by Nintendo after they were unable to approach to an agreement on how revenue would be split between the two companies.[87] The breaking of the partnership infuriated Sony President Norio Ohga, who responded by appointing Kutaragi with the responsibility of developing the PlayStation project to rival Nintendo.[87]
At that time, negotiations were still on-going between Nintendo and Sony, with Nintendo offering Sony a "non-gaming role" regarding their new partnership with Philips.
This proposal was swiftly rejected by Kutaragi who was facing increasing criticism over his work with regard to entering the video game industry from within Sony. Negotiations officially ended in May and in order to decide the fate of the PlayStation project, a meeting was held in June , consisting of Sony President Ohga, PlayStation Head Kutaragi and several senior members of Sony's board.
At the meeting, Kutaragi unveiled a proprietary CD-ROM-based system he had been working on which involved playing video games with 3D graphics to the board. Eventually, Sony President Ohga decided to retain the venture after being reminded by Kutaragi of the humiliation he suffered from Nintendo.
Nevertheless, due to strong opposition from a majority present at the meeting as well as widespread internal conflict to the project by the older generation of Sony executives, Kutaragi and his team had to be shifted from Sony's headquarters to Sony Music, a completely separate financial entity owned by Sony, so as to retain the project and maintain relationships with Philips for the MMCD development project (which helped lead to the creation of the DVD)
Continued research and development
In , the WIPO's annual review of the World Intellectual Property Indicators report ranked Sony's as ninth in the planet for the number of patent applications published under the PCT System.
1, patent applications were published by Sony during [88] This position is up from their previous ranking as 13th in with 1, applications.[89]
Business units
Further information: List of assets owned by Sony
Best known for its electronic products, Sony offers a wide variety of product lines in many areas.
At its peak, it was dubbed as a "corporate octopus", for its sprawling ventures from private insurance to chemicals to cosmetics to home shopping to a Tokyo-based French food joint, in addition its core businesses such as electronics and entertainment.[36] Even after it has unwound many business units including Sony Chemicals and Vaio PC, Sony still runs diverse businesses.
As of , Sony is organized into the following business segments: Game & Network Services (G&NS), Music, Pictures, Electronics Products & Solutions (EP&S), Imaging & Sensing Solutions (I&SS), Financial Services, and Others.[90] Usually, each business segment has a handful of corresponding intermediate holding companies under which all the related businesses are folded into, such as Columbia Records organism part of Sony Music Community, a subsidiary and, at the same time, a holding organization for Sony's music businesses, along with SMEJ.
Electronics products & solutions
Sony Corporation (Sony Electronics Organization until 1 April [91]) is the electronics business unit of the Sony Group. It primarily conducts research and development (R&D), planning, designing, manufacturing and marketing for electronics products.
Sony Global Manufacturing & Operations Corporation (SGMO) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation and responsible for managing manufacturing operations both in Japan and overseas, through its own factories as well as third party contract manufacturers.
Audio
In , Sony released the world's first portable music player, the Walkman, bundled with the MDL-3L2 headphones. This line fostered a fundamental change in music listening habits by allowing people to carry music with them and listen to music through lightweight headphones.[69][92] Originally used to cite to portable audio cassette players, the Walkman brand has been widely adopted by the business to encompass its portable digital audio and video players as well as a line of former Sony Ericsson mobile phones.
In the case of optical disc players, the Discman logo was used until the delayed s. In Sony's first portable digital audio players were introduced; one was a player using Memory Stick flash storage created by the Walkman division, and the other was a smaller pen-sized player with embedded flash storage created by the Vaio division; both accompanied with Sony's OpenMG protection technology and PC software for music transfer.[93][94] Sony continue to develop Walkman digital audio players.
Sony is a major audio products manufacturer and one of the active noise control technology leaders.[95][96]
Sony's high-end microphones and headphones for professional operate are produced at Sony/Taiyo Enterprise, a designated special subsidiary at which 67% of employees include a disability, in Ōita Prefecture, Japan.[97]
Video
Sony produced the TV, the world's first all-transistor television, in [98] In , the firm introduced the Trinitron brand call for its lines of aperture grillecathode-ray tube televisions and afterwards computer monitors.
Sony stopped movie of Trinitron for most markets, but continued producing sets for markets such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and China. Sony discontinued its series of Trinitron computer monitors in The company discontinued the last Trinitron-based television set in the U.S.
in early The end of Trinitron marked the end of Sony's analog television sets and monitors.
Sony used the LCD WEGA name for its LCD TVs until summer The company then introduced the BRAVIA name. BRAVIA is an in-house brand owned by Sony which produces high-definition LCD televisions, projection TVs and front projectors, home cinemas and the BRAVIA home theatre range.
All Sony high-definition flat-panel LCD televisions in North America have carried the logo for BRAVIA since In , Sony lost its decades-long No.1 market share in the global television market. In November , the Sony XEL-1, the first OLED television, was released and manufactured for two years.
Later in , Sony demonstrated the first 4K OLED television.[99][] As of , Sony was the third-largest maker of televisions in the world and the business unit had been unprofitable for eight consecutive years.[]
From , Sony started restructuring of its loss-making television business, mainly by downsizing business units and outsourcing the manufacturing of display panels to the companies like Clear Corporation, LG Display, and Samsung Electronics.[] In December , Sony agreed to sell all stake in an LCD joint project with Samsung Electronics (S-LCD) for about $&#;million.[] On 28 Protest , Sony and Sharp announced that they have agreed to further amend the joint initiative agreement originally executed by the parties in July , as amended in April , for the establishment and operation of Sharp Display Products Corporation ("SDP"), a joint venture to make and sell large-sized LCD panels and modules.[] The agreement was eventually terminated as Sony parted ways.[] Sony's small-sized LCD business subsidiary and medium-to-large-sized OLED present business unit were spun off and became part of Japan Display and JOLED, respectively.[]
In , Sony launched OLED televisions under the BRAVIA brand.[]
Also, Sony has sold a range of tapes, discs, recorders and players for videocassette, DVD, and Blu-ray formats for decades.
Photography and videography
Sony offers a wide range of digital cameras. Its point-and-shoot models are branded Cyber-shot, while DSLRs and mirrorless models are branded Alpha, though Sony no longer makes DSLRs.
It also produces action cameras and camcorders, with the company's cinema-grade products organism sold under the CineAlta designate.
Sony demonstrated a prototype of the Sony Mavica in and released it for the consumer market in The first Cyber-shot was introduced in Sony's market share of the digital camera market fell from a lofty of 20% to 9% by [][37]
Sony entered the market for digital single-lens reflex cameras in when it acquired the camera business of Konica Minolta.
Sony rebranded the company's line of cameras as its Alpha line. Sony is the world's third largest manufacturer of the cameras, behind Canon and Nikon respectively.
In , Sony introduced their first mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras, which were the NEX-3 and the NEX They also started a new lens mount system, which was the E-mount.
There were quite a few NEX models out there, when Sony decided to melt the NEX series into the Alpha series. The first Alpha MILC was the α, which was introduced in August It was followed by the Full-Frame α7 and α7R in October, then the successors of the NEX-5, the NEX-6 and NEX-7, the α and the α in The α became the most popular MILC ever and Sony became the largest MILC manufacturer.
Computing
Sony produced computers (SMC&#;[jp] personal computer, MSXhome computers and NEWSworkstations) during the s. The company withdrew from the computer business around Sony entered again into the global computer market under the modern VAIO brand, began in Quick for "Video Audio Integrated Operation", the line was the first computer brand to highlight visual-audio features.[37]
Sony faced considerable controversy when some of its laptop batteries exploded and caught fire in , resulting in the largest computer-related recall to that signal in history.[][][]
In a bid to join the tablet computer market, the company launched its Sony Tablet line of Android tablets in Since , Sony's Android products have been marketed under the Xperia brand used for its smartphones.[]
On 4 February , Sony announced that it would sell its VAIO PC business due to poor sales[] and Japanese company Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) will purchase the VAIO brand, with the deal finalized by the end of Rally [] As of , Sony maintained a 5% stake in the new, independent company.
In s, Sony was contracted to manufacture laptop computers for Apple and Dell.[][] The Raspberry Pi Foundation delegates the manufacture of its single-board computers to Sony. Most Raspberry Pi computers are made at Sony UK Technology Centre in Pencoed, Wales, UK.[][][]
Healthcare and biotechnology
Sony has targeted medical, healthcare and biotechnology business as a growth sector in the future.
The company acquired iCyt Mission Technology, Inc. (renamed Sony Biotechnology Inc. in ), a manufacturer of flow cytometers, in and Micronics, Inc., a developer of microfluidics-based diagnostic tools, in
In , Sony announced that it would acquire all shares of So-net Entertainment Corporation, the largest shareholder of M3, Inc., an operator of portal sites (, MR-kun, MDLinx and MEDI:GATE) for healthcare professionals.
On 28 September , Olympus and Sony announced that the two companies will establish a joint project to develop new surgical endoscopes with 4K resolution (or higher) and 3D capability.[] Sony Olympus Medical Solutions Inc. (Sony 51%, Olympus 49%) was established on 16 April []
On 28 February , Sony, M3 and Illumina established a joint venture called P5, Inc.
to provide a genome analysis service for study institutions and enterprises in Japan.[]
Mobility
In , Sony was a marginal player in the mobile cell market with a share of less than 1 percent.
The structure also incorporates geographical divisions. InSony announced the overhauling of its organizational structurechanging its label from Sony Corporation to Sony Group Corporation to better detect itself as the headquarters of the Sony group of companies skewing the company toward product divisions. Sony, formally known as Sony Group Corporation, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo. The company has interests in several consumer and professional electronics markets, such as video games, digital cameras, televisions, audio equipment, music production, digital storage, and healthcare biotechnology.In , Sony entered into a connected venture with Swedish telecommunications organization Ericsson, forming Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications.[] Initial sales were rocky, and the company posted losses in and However, Sony Ericsson reached a profit in The company distinguished itself with multimedia-capable mobile phones, which included features such as cameras.
These were unusual at the time. Despite their innovations, Sony Ericsson faced intense competition from Apple's iPhone, which was released in From to , amid a global recession, Sony Ericsson slashed its workforce by several thousand.
In , Sony Ericsson was the fourth-largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world (after Nokia, Samsung and LG).[] By , its market share had fallen to sixth place.[] Sony acquired Ericsson's share of the venture in for over US$1&#;billion.[]Sony Mobile focuses exclusively on the smartphone market under the Xperia brand.
In , Sony contributed to around two percent of the mobile phone market with 37&#;million mobile phones sold.[] Sony Mobile's sales reached a peak in with 40&#;million handsets, the volume has since decreased.
Sony shipped &#;million phones in , &#;million in , and &#;million handsets in FY []
Robotics
Since the late s, Sony has released numerous consumer robots, including dog-shaped robots called AIBO, a music playing robot called Rolly, and a humanoid robot called QRIO.
Despite organism a pioneer in the field, Sony had ceased robotics-related operations for 10 years due to financial difficulties, until it decided to revive them in []
In , Sony partnered with an autonomous driving startup ZMP INC.
to establish an aerial surveillance and reconnaissance drone manufacturer named Aerosense.[] At the CES , Sony unveiled a drone with the brand Airpeak, the smallest of its kind that can incorporate a Sony Alpha camera according to the company, entering the drone business on its own for the first time.[]
Imaging & sensing solutions
Sony traces its roots in the semiconductor business back to , when it became the first Japanese corporation to commercialize the transistor, invented and licensed by Bell Labs, whilst some of the biggest and well-established names in Japan at the time like Toshiba and Mitsubishi Electric initially stuck with vacuum tubes they had been thriving on; despite creature an expert on the vacuum tube himself, Ibuka saw potential of the novel technology and had Morita negotiate the terms for licensing, making Sony into one of the earliest and the youngest licensees of the transistor, together with Texas Instruments.[][][] In , Sony employee Leo Esaki and his colleagues invented a tunnel diode (usually referred to as Esaki diode) by which they discovered the quantum tunneling effect in solids, for which Esaki received the Nobel prize in Physics in [] Sony has commanded a dominant share in the charge-coupled device market.[]
As of , Sony is the world's largest manufacturer of CMOS image sensors as its chips are widely used in digital cameras, tablet computers, smartphones, drones and more recently, self-driving systems in automobiles.[]
As of , the company, through its chip business arm Sony Semiconductor Solutions, designs, manufactures, and sells a wide range of semiconductors and electronic components, including image sensors (HAD CCD, Exmor), image processors (BIONZ), laser diodes, system LSIs, mixed-signal LSIs, emerging memory storage, emerging displays (microLED, microOLED, and holographic display), multi-functional microcomputer (SPRESENSE), etc.[]
In , Sony has launched the first intelligent vision sensors with AIedge computing capabilies.[]
Game & network services
Main article: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Sony Interactive Entertainment (formerly Sony Computer Entertainment) is best famous for producing the popular line of PlayStation consoles.
The line grew out of a failed partnership with Nintendo. Originally, Nintendo requested Sony to develop an add-on for its Super Nintendo Entertainment System that would perform CD-ROMs. In Sony announced the add-on, as well as a dedicated console known as the "Play Station".
However, a disagreement over software licensing for the console caused the partnership to fall through. Sony then continued the project independently.
Launched in , the first PlayStation gained 61% of global console sales and broke Nintendo's long-standing direct in the market.[] Sony followed up with the PlayStation 2 in , which was even more successful.
The console has become the most successful of all time, selling over &#;million units as of [update]. Sony released the PlayStation 3, a high-definition console, in It was the first console to operate the Blu-ray format, and was considerably more expensive than the competitors Xbox and Wii due to the Cell processor.[37]
Early on, poor sales performance resulted in significant losses for the organization, pushing it to sell the console at a loss.[] The PlayStation 3 sold generally more poorly than its competitors in the early years of its release but managed to overtake the Xbox in global sales later on.[] It later introduced the PlayStation Move, an accessory that allows players to regulate video games using motion gestures.
Sony has changed its organizational structure to adjust to changes in the industry. The changes in this company structure back improvements in competencies, identified in the SWOT analysis of Sonyto address competitive rivalry in markets for consumer electronics, media and entertainment, and game services. As a major global business, Sony has an organizational structure for addressing challenges in current global market conditions. Sony has a balanced matrix organizational structure.Sony extended the brand to the portable games market in with the PlayStation Portable (PSP). The console has sold reasonably, but has taken a second place to a rival handheld, the Nintendo DS. Sony developed the Universal Media Disc (UMD) optical disc medium for use on the PlayStation Portable.
Early on, the format was used for movies, but it has since lost major studio support. Sony released a disc-less version of its PlayStation Portable, the PSP Go, in The company went on to release its second portable video game system, PlayStation Vita, in and Sony launched its fourth console, the PlayStation 4, on 15 November , which as of 31 December has sold &#;million units globally.[]
On 18 March , at GDC, president of SCE Worldwide StudiosShuhei Yoshida announced their new virtual reality technology dubbed Project Morpheus, and later named PlayStation VR, for PlayStation 4.
The headset brought VR gaming and non-gaming software to the company's console. According to a report released by Houston-based patent consulting solid LexInnova in May , Sony is leading the virtual life patent race.
According to the firm's analysis of nearly 12, patents or patent applications, Sony has virtual reality patents or patent applications.[] PlayStation VR was released worldwide on 13 October []
On 31 March , the successor to the PlayStation 4 was announced and on 12 November , the PlayStation 5 was released in North America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore.
The console was launched in Indonesia on 22 January Upon completion of the fiscal quarter, Sony sold million PlayStation 5 consoles, keeping pace with the best-selling console of all time, the PlayStation 2.[]
Pictures and music
Further information: Sony Entertainment
Sony Entertainment has two divisions: Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Melody Group (Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Music Publishing).
Sony USA