SHARP CORPORATION

(, ) is a Japanese electronics manufacturer, founded in 1912.
It takes its name from one of its founder's first inventions, the Ever-Sharp mechanical pencil, which was invented by Tokuji Hayakawa(早川 徳次) in 1915. Since then it has developed into one of the leading electronics companies in the world. As a semiconductor maker, Sharp is among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders and among the Top 100 R&D Spenders in a list published by the IEEE Spectrum magazine. It gained public awareness in the United Kingdom when it sponsored Manchester United F.C from 1982 to 2000 which was a great period of success for the club.

Contents

Origins

Core technologies

Humanoid Robot

Sales

Manchester United

Headquarters

Associated companies

Technical Support

Competitors

See also

References

External links

Origins

It takes its name from one of its founder's first inventions, the Ever-Sharp mechanical pencil, which was invented by Tokuji Hayakawa(早川 徳次) in 1915.^[1] After the pencil business was destroyed by the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923, the company relocated to Osaka and started designing the first Japanese radio sets. These went on sale in 1925. In 1953 it started production of the first television sets in Japan. Other notable achievements include the world's first all-transistor desktop calculator in 1964 and the first LCD calculator in 1973. LCD technology continues to be a key part of Sharp's product range, in both the component and the consumer-appliance sides of the business.

Core technologies

Core technologies and products include: solar panels, mobile phones, audio-visual entertainment equipment, LCD panels, projectors, photocopiers, microwave ovens, cash registers, CMOS and CCD sensors, and flash memory.
The first commercial camera phone was also made by Sharp for the Japanese market in November 2000. Recent products include the ViewCam, the Ultra-Lite notebook PC, the Zaurus personal digital assistant, Sidekick 3, and the Aquos flat screen television.

Humanoid Robot

In 2006 Sharp said it has developed a humanoid robot that clears dishes from the table and puts them into a dishwasher. The robot (measuring 95x50x45cm) opens the door of the dishwasher, takes hold of teacups, rice bowls and plates, places them in the unit and closes the door ^[2]

Sales

Net sales for the year 2003/4 were $16.8 billion.
The Corporation employs 46,600 staff, of which around half live outside Japan.
It operates from 64 bases in 30 countries and its products are distributed in 164 countries worldwide. Many of its regional subsidiaries trade under the name "''Sharp Electronics''".
As a semiconductor maker, Sharp is among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders and among the Top 100 R&D Spenders in a list published by the IEEE Spectrum magazine.

Manchester United

Sharp sponsored Manchester United Football Club from 1982 until 2000, in one of the lengthiest and most lucrative sponsorship deals in English football. Sharp's logo became iconic between 1982 and 2000 when English football club Manchester United displayed it on their shirts as part of a sponsorship deal. Because much of these 18 years were something of a golden era for the club, with a (coincidental) decline in fortunes happening once Vodafone became the new shirt sponsors in 2000, some fans now term this period - particularly 1993-1999, as ''The Sharp Years''.

Headquarters

★ 22-22, Nagaike-cho, Abeno-ku, Osaka, Japan

★ 1 Sharp Plaza Mahwah, New Jersey 07430, USA

Associated companies

★ LOEWE

Technical Support

Sharp Electronics telephone support is provided by a United-States based business, Affina, LLC, located in Peoria, IL. This same business also provides tech support for competitors such as Hitachi and Toshiba.

Competitors

★ Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic)

★ Sony

★ JVC

★ Samsung

★ Thomson SA

★ Hewlett-Packard

★ Hitachi

★ Toshiba

★ Pioneer

★ Sanyo Electric

★ Mitsubishi Electric

★ Daikin

★ LG-Philips LCD

See also

★ Sharp Aquos – ''Sharp's range of LCD televisions''

★ Sharp GX15 – ''mobile phone''

★ Sharp Solar

★ List of Sharp products

References

1. Eversharp history
2. Sharp robot

External links

★ International website

★ Japanese website

★ U.S. website

★ Sharp phones features, reviews, specifications & technical details

★ Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas (SMA) website

★ Sharp Laboratories of Europe (SLE) website

★ Sharp Telecommunications of Europe (STE) website

★ Sharp instruction manuals

★ A robot kit using SHARP infrared distance sensors

★ Sharp 904

★ Sharp 905

★ Sharp's German website