May
10
SHARP – a short history
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Sharp was founded in 1912 in Japan. The name is composed of one of the first inventions of the company’s founder: Tokuji Hayakawa 1915 invented a mechanical pencil, the Ever-Ready Sharp Pencil. In 1925 Sharp produced crystal radio, from 1929 tube radios. Since 1953 TV series has been produced. 1962 Sharp started to the first microwaves (microwave cooking appliances) build and in 1963 started the serial production of silicon solar cells and photo elements. 1964 Sharp built one of the first desk calculators, 1969 the first computer with LSI ICs and 1973 the first LCD calculator. In the 80 years Sharp wasinvolved instrumental in the development of portable computers not just for IBM-compatible laptops but mainly in the so-called Pocket BASIC programmable computer.
Sharp now has branches in 30 countries and sells its products in 164 countries. The product range includes, among other things, microwave ovens, hi-fi equipment, photocopiers, pocket and desktop computers, mobile phones, notebook computers and LCD technology. A well-known product, which in Germany but no longer distributed directly from Sharp is the Zaurus PDA series with embedded Linux operating system.
Since 1968, Sharp also in Europe. At that time, the European subsidiary “Sharp Electronics Europe GmbH based in Hamburg. In 1986 in Austria was also a branch established since 1994, in Vienna for the Eastern European region (Central and Eastern European).
For fiscal year 2006 (April 1, 2006 to March 31, 2007) Sharp increased its worldwide sales by 11.8 percent, from 2.79 to 3.12 trillion yen. The operating profit was supported by 13.9 percent from 163.7 to 186.5 billion yen and net profit up 14.7 percent from 88.6 to 101.7 billion yen increased. (Source: Sharp Annual Report of 25 July 2007)
Sharp is with a (global) market share of 17% since 1999, a world leader in the manufacture of solar cells and in the field of LCD displays. (April 2007)
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