The Magic of SONY TransistoresJapan’s first miniature transistor radio, the TR-55, was introduced in mid-1955 by a small company called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K. (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation). It was sold on the Japanese domestic market and didn’t exhibit the fit, finish, and quality that their later radios were famed for.
All that changed with the international release of their
TR-63 “Transistor Six” shirt-pocket radio in 1957. Instead of shoehorning in traditional components, the TR-63 was designed around all-new miniature devices. It was the smallest radio ever manufactured, and went on to sell over 100,000 units in four different colors, and set the standard against which future radio sets were judged. But this was only the tip of the iceberg.
TTK changed their name to Sony Corporation in 1958 (Incidentally, “Sony” is meaningless in Japanese – they took the bold step of creating a name that would exclusively define their brand). In what was to become typical Sony style, their next pocket radio was even smaller and sleeker. The TR-610 sold over 430,000 units – an astounding figure at that time. But, most importantly, Sony established itself as a dominant force in the consumer electronics world.
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