Sony STC

Originally called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Company), Sony's roots go back over half a century to 1946 when it was founded by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita.

In the crippled post-war Japanese economy Ibuka and Morita made their living repairing radios and manufacturing small numbers of voltmeters whilst looking to develop a future in designing and manufacturing new electronics. Perhaps surprisingly, their first electronic innovation was an automatic rice cooker. Its success was limited but it was the first in a long line of innovations which continue today.

Ibuka and Morita were global thinkers. They realised the need for a global brand which crossed cultural and language borders in order to expand the business in the US and later Europe. TTK was already being used by another company so a new name, Sony, was conceived. The name Sony derives from the Latin word sonus meaning sound and the English word sonny-boy - a term used by the Americans in the 1950's to denote a bright youngster.

Although the name of the company was not officially changed to Sony Corporation until 1958, the first Sony branded product was the TR-55 transistor radio which went on sale in 1955. This was shortly followed by the worlds first "pocketable" transistor radio also from Sony.

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