What company did Thomas Edison form in 1878 to promote his phonograph?

Thomas Edison formed the Edison Speaking Phonograph Company in 1878 to promote and commercialize his phonograph.

The company followed Edison's successful 1877 demonstration of recording and reproducing sound. Although the early phonograph attracted enormous public interest, the first machines were fragile, expensive, and difficult to operate reliably. The company helped organize demonstrations and public exhibitions that introduced the invention to audiences in the United States and abroad.

This company is often confused with later Edison businesses. The North American Phonograph Company was created in 1888 to develop a broader commercial phonograph network, while the National Phonograph Company, founded in 1896, became a major manufacturer and distributor of Edison phonographs and recordings.

Edison's original phonograph business therefore belongs to the earliest stage of sound-recording commercialization, before phonographs became common household machines.