Sony Corporation (ADR) (SNE), Intel Corporation (INTC): Two Key Moments in the Rise of Consumer Electronics

Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) was not the first company to package the transistor in a consumer product, but within a year of the first American transistor radio, Sony had one of its own on the market. Three years later, in 1958, the company would rename itself, its new appellation a derivative of two Western words: the Latin word “sonus,” for sound, and “sonny,” an American slang term for a young boy. It would be more than two decades before Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) made its name as a consumer-technology innovator — the groundbreaking Walkman was released in 1979. The new product was expensive — about a third of the average Japanese graduate’s monthly salary — and only 3,000 sold in its first month on the market. But consumers warmed to the Walkman: More than 220 million were sold from the time of its release to its discontinuation in 2010.

Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) would expand from that base of strength into a number of consumer electronics segments, leading the charge for Japanese technology exports. The company’s greatest successes came under the leadership of founder Akio Morita, who was a mere 25 years old when the company began and would remain in the corner office until 1989.

Following Morita’s retirement, Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) began expanding aggressively into media production by buying up music and film companies, and it would also grow in other directions that would occasionally prove unprofitable. Without visionary leadership, Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) slowly lost its edge as a leading consumer-electronics producer — but it has continued to stand on the vanguard of media technology, having most recently won the high-definition video disc format war with the Blu-ray format it helped to develop.

The article 2 Key Moments in the Rise of Consumer Electronics originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Alex Planes.

Fool contributor Alex Planes owns shares of Intel. Add him on Google+ or follow him on Twitter @TMFBiggles for more insight into markets, history, and technology.The Motley Fool recommends Intel. The Motley Fool owns shares of Intel.

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