Aiwa

Aiwa was a Japanese consumer electronics company that was founded in the year 1951. Aiwa is perhaps most remembered for its stereos, radios, surround sound systems, etc. The company is credited with many firsts in the Japanese consumer electronics market such as Japan’s first cassette tape recorder, the first Japanese stereo cassette deck, etc. Aiwa was also the first company in Japan to launch a recording headphone stereo and the first firm to manufacture digital audio tape (DAT) products in Japan. Aiwa was a leading player in the mini-systems category, and Aiwa music systems were among the company’s largest selling electronic products.

The company saw its golden period in the 1970s and 1980s; during this time, Aiwa systems, especially Aiwa Hi-Fi stereos and ghettoblasters/boomboxes, sold in large numbers all across the globe. The 1990s saw the company’s fortunes take a downward turn as competition in Aiwa’s core categories, Hi-Fi systems and analogue stereo radios, increased dramatically.

This coupled with softening prices and stagnant or decreasing demand forced Aiwa to retort to low-price volume manufacturing. This diluted the brand equity of the company and also forced the company to cut down on its research and development. This lack of innovation proved to be Aiwa’s undoing when the digital revolution of the late 1990s took place.

Consequently, Aiwa slipped toward bankruptcy, and was purchased by one of its main competitors, Sony Corporation. Aiwa became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony on the 1st of October 2002.

In January 2003, Sony announced that it plans to rebrand and relaunch the Aiwa name as a