Today in Technology History
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October 3
Two years ago, a co-founder of the Japanese company Sony died.
Akio Morita was born Nagoya, Japan in 1921, the eldest son of a family that had operated a brewery for fourteen generations. Morita was interested in electronics as a young man so, rather than join the family business, he studied physics in college. He worked on weapons research during World War II.
After the war, Morita joined a wartime colleague, Masaru Ibuka (1908-1997), in starting an electronics company in the bombed-out shell of a Tokyo department store. Years later, the company was given the name "Sony" -- a combination of the Latin word sonus (sound) and the American phrase "sonny boy," which conveyed a sense of youthfulness, Morita believed.
Morita's genius was in marketing his company's products throughout the world. Back then, the label "Made in Japan" indicated shoddy goods. Eventually, thanks in large part to Sony, the reputation of Japanese products improved, and the label "Made in Japan" on electronics became a badge of quality.
Under Morita's stewardship, Sony produced very successful tape recorders, radios, stereos, televisions and digital cameras. Sony's Walkman was enormously successful, and the company co-invented the compact disc. Even Sony's failures were remarkable: although the Betamax VCR standard lost out to the VHS standard, Betamax is still highly regarded for its quality.
Morita made Sony a global success, and he became the best known Japanese businessman in the world. In 1993, Morita suffered a stroke that left him in a wheelchair. He died of pneumonia on October 3, 1999, at the age of 78.
Related links:
Click here for the official Sony biography of Morita.
Click here for the history of the Sony company.
TIME magazine listed Morita among its most important 100 people of the last century. Click here to read about it.
Click here to read more about Morita.
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