Aiwa

1980s AIWA HS-P05 Mk II audio cassette player

Aiwa F810 tape deck

Aiwa (アイワ), registered as Aiwa Corp., is a consumer electronics company owned by Chicago-based Joe Born since 2015. Aiwa was originally a Japanese company founded in 1951, and was once a globally well-regarded brand known for making quality audio products, such as speakers, boomboxes and stereo systems.^[1] It was the market leader in several product categories. Aiwa created the first cassette tape recorder in 1964.^[2] The company was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange from October 1961 until September 2002.

The company went into the red in the late 1990s, and was fully bought by Sony in 2002. Aiwa was then rebranded as a new youth-focused division of Sony, but it was unsuccessful and the brand was discontinued by 2006. In 2015, an American audio company known as Hale Devices, Inc. was granted the rights to the iconic brand name, with the company renaming itself to Aiwa Corporation and starting to produce audio equipment.^[3]

History

AIWA logo, 1959-1991

The company was founded on June 20, 1951 as AIKO Denki Sangyo Co., Ltd., manufacturing microphones, and changed its name to Aiwa Co., Ltd. (アイワ株式会社) in March 10, 1959.^[4] Mitsuo Ikejiri served as president until 1969.

The company was a leading manufacturer of audio products, including headphone stereos, minicomponent stereo systems, portable stereo systems, minidisc players, CD and cassette players, and car stereo systems throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.^[5][6] Nearly 86 percent of company revenues were derived from such audio products. 12 percent came from products such as televisions and VCRs, and the remaining two percent from computer peripherals and other life products.

Aiwa marketed Japan's first boombox, TPR-101, in 1968, as well as the first cassette deck, TP-1009. In 1980 Aiwa created the world's first personal stereo recorder, TP-S30. Despite Sony being the major shareholder, healthy competition between the two brands was believed to be profitable.^[7] In 1990 Aiwa created the HP-J7 earbuds, designed to be vertically inserted into the ear. In 1993 the first CD+G-compatible portable CD player was made, XP-80G.

Apart from audio products, Aiwa also has been present in other industries. The company also made and sold video products, such as VCRs, color televisions, DVD players, and digital satellite television tuners. Aiwa was also involved in the production of computer peripherals devices, such as modems, terminal adapters, and speakers, and what the company termed "life amenity products," such as air cleaners and humidifiers. In 1995 they released a PHS mobile phone, PT-H50, for the DDI Pocket network in Japan.^[8] That same year an electric toothbrush, HA-C10, was released.

Aiwa manufactured more than 89 percent of its output outside Japan, with a heavy emphasis on the lower-cost southeast Asian nations of Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The company was also heavily dependent on overseas sales, with more than 80 percent of total revenues being generated outside Japan, with 43 percent in North and South America, 25 percent in Europe, and 13 percent in areas of Asia outside Japan and in other regions.

Although not then officially an affiliated company of consumer electronics giant Sony Corporation, by 1982 Sony had a 54.6% stake in the company, effectively giving it a majority control.^[9]

With growing competition throughout the late 1990s, the company slid towards bankruptcy. In March 2001 the company president Masayoshi Morimoto announced the halving of its workforce, following a second consecutive loss-making year.^[10]

Acquisition by Sony

The company's logo as part of Sony (2003-2006)

The troubled company was then fully purchased by Sony Corporation.^[11] As of December 1, 2002, Aiwa ceased to be a separate company and became a wholly owned division of Sony.^[12]

In January 2003, Sony announced the rebranding and relaunch of Aiwa as a "youth focused, PC-centric" electronics brand.^[13] A new logo was presented to the world's media along with a statement of Sony's intention to invest in and "revitalize" the Aiwa brand. The direction proposed was to capitalize on the growing trend among personal-computer-literate teenagers and young adults to use their PCs for all forms of entertainment (television, films, music, chat). It was also used to expand in markets where Sony is not as strong.

However the new direction of Aiwa under Sony did not meet consumer and sales expectations. On January 21, 2005, new product development ended, and by 2006, Aiwa products were discontinued and no longer sold in the market. Sony announced the termination of the brand entirely on May 14, 2008.^[14]

As of January 2014, the Aiwa website still existed to provide customer-support telephone numbers for some territories and regions, but it also contained many broken links and blank pages. In other regions, such as Europe, it redirected to a page on the Sony website stating that the Aiwa website had closed.^[15]

Brand rebirth in 2015

In 2015, Dormitus Brands, a Chicago-based brand acquisition company run by Mark Thomann, acquired the rights for the Aiwa brand and trademark from Sony. Thomann looked to pair the brand with a company that was innovating in the audio industry, eventually leading to a deal with Hale Devices, Inc., headed by Joe Born. Hale Devices renamed itself into Aiwa. The Aiwa brand was formally relaunched in March 2015, releasing its first product, Exos-9, a wireless Bluetooth speaker.^[16]

Logos

The first logo of the company contained AIWA in capital letters, in use until 1991. The second logo changed the font to a lowercase one, as aiwa. In 2003, after the acquisition by Sony, the logo was rebranded as part of Sony's efforts to 'revitalize' the brand, and was in use until the brand's retirement in 2006. Since the brand's resurrection in 2015, the second (1991-2002) logo is back in use. All logos were colored red.

Gallery

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  AIWA CA-W30 dual cassette boombox

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  Aiwa AM-XH55 MiniDisc player

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  AIWA AR-888 AM receiver

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  Aiwa CSD-ES100 compact CD/radio/cassette recorder

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  AIWA AD WX 333 cassette deck

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  Aiwa XR-H330 MD micro system (1999)

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  Aiwa TV-A2017S 21" television

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  Aiwa S7000 cassette recorder

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  Aiwa CM-S32 microphone

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  AIWA TPR-950 boombox

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  Aiwa XR-FD55 micro system

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  AIWA AR-852 8-transistor radio

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  AIWA AR-127 10-transistor dual band radio (c. 1964)

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  AIWA AR-123 10-transistor triple band radio

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  AIWA Sound GT earphone (c. 1990s)

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  Aiwa stereo system

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  Aiwa CSD-MD3 compact CD/cassette/radio/MiniDisc player

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  Aiwa loudspeaker enclosure

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  Aiwa CDC-R176M car CD/radio receiver (c. mid-1990s)

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  Aiwa XR-V10MD micro system with MD/DVD support

See also

• List of companies of Japan
• List of defunct consumer brands
• List of electronics brands
• List of electronics companies
• Sony Corporation shareholders and subsidiaries

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to AIWA.

External links

• Current Aiwa website
• Aiwa site as a Sony division
• Aiwa closure message
• European Aiwa support site