Sony was the Japanese electronics company founded by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita in 1946.
The company began in postwar Tokyo as Tokyo Tsushin Kenkyujo, commonly translated as Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation. Its early products included an electric rice cooker and tape recorders, but the founders aimed to build innovative consumer technologies rather than simply repair equipment.
In 1958, the company adopted the name Sony, a short, internationally usable brand inspired partly by “sonus,” Latin for sound, and “sonny.” Sony later became associated with landmark products such as the transistor radio, Trinitron television, Walkman portable player, and PlayStation.
A common mix-up is confusing Sony with Toshiba, Panasonic, or Sharp, all major Japanese electronics companies. Sony’s founders were Ibuka and Morita; the company’s original 1946 name was not Sony.