Sharp Corporation

Sharp Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation that designs and manufactures electronic products. Headquartered in Abeno-ku, Osaka, Japan. Sharp employs more than 54,144 people worldwide as of October 31, 2009. The company was founded in September 1912. It takes its name from one of its founder's first inventions, the Ever-Sharp mechanical pencil, which was invented by Tokuji Hayakawa 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 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 period of great success for the club.

They took a controlling stake in Pioneer Corporation in 2007. On 25 June 2009, they agreed to form a joint venture with Pioneer on their optical business to be called "Pioneer Digital Design and Manufacturing Corporation".

Origins
In 1912, Tokuji Hayakawa founded a metal workshop in Tokyo. The first of his many inventions was a snap buckle named 'Tokubijo'. Another of his major inventions was the Ever-Sharp mechanical pencil in 1915, from which the Sharp Corporation took its name. After the pencil business was destroyed by the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, the company relocated to Osaka and began designing the first generation of Japanese radio sets. These went on sale in 1925. In 1953 Sharp started producing television sets. 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 consumer-appliance sides of the business.

Sharp manufactures a variety of consumer electronic products. These include LCD televisions, sold under the Aquos brand, mobile phones, microwave ovens, Home Cinema and audio systems, air purification systems, fax machines and calculators.

For the business market, Sharp also produces ranges of projectors and monitors and a variety of photocopiers and Laser Printers, in addition to electronic cash registers and Point of sale technologies.

Sharp is a pioneer and innovator in the field of multi-functional devices (MFD) having won many awards from BLI and BERTL - the two major authorities providing competitive intelligence and test reviews in the print industry. SHARP's latest products - MX2600N and MX3100N have once again broken new ground with the launch of version 3 Open System Architecture (OSA3). This feature enhances productivity further still by letting third party developers directly integrate their business applications with the MFD.

Sharp shared a close working relationship with Nintendo during the 1980s, and was granted licensing rights for the manufacture and development of the Sharp Nintendo Television, the Twin Famicom , the Sharp Famicom Titler, and the SF-1 SNES TV (1990). All of these units are considered collectors items on the secondary market.

Sharp Solar has for a number of years been a leading supplier of silicon photovoltaic solar cells. Now, it offers solar TV.

Sharp's Mobile Communications Division created the world's first commercial camera phone, the J-SH04, in Japan in 1997, and continues to be a leading player in the Japanese mobile phone market, also maintaining a position as a niche supplier outside Japan. In 2008, Sharp is collaborating with Emblaze Mobile on the Monolith an ultimate holistic mobile device.

Manchester United
Sharp was the principal sponsor of Manchester United Football Club from 1982 until 2000, in one of the lengthiest and most lucrative sponsorship deals in English football. Sharp's logo was on the front of United's shirts during these 17 years, during which the team won seven Premier League titles, five FA Cups, one Football League Cup, one European Cup Winners' Cup and one European Cup. As this period was something of a golden era for the club, with a decline in fortunes happening once Vodafone became the new shirt sponsors in 2000, some fans now term this period particularly 1993–2000 as The Sharp Years.

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