Aiwa

Aiwa
legal form	Kabushiki-gaisha (joint stock company)
founding	1951
resolution	October 1, 2002 (company) ; 2006 (trademark)
Seat	Tokyo , Japan
Branch	electronics
Website	www.aiwa.com

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Aiwa voice recorder from around 1988

Aiwa F810

Aiwa KK ( Japanese アイワ株式会社 ) was a Japanese company that specialized in multimedia devices. Aiwa was founded in 1951 and initially only made microphones . The company achieved fame through pioneering work in the field of HiFi-compatible cassette recorders and produced Japan's first digital tape recorder .

However , the company was unable to maintain this high level of innovation and almost went bankrupt in the 1990s, although at that time almost the entire Japanese management down to the national subsidiaries was replaced by Sony managers.

The BASF had contracts with Aiwa and has some cassette recorder, for. B. the radio recorder 9300 and 9301, sold under its own name.

On October 1, 2002, Aiwa was then taken over 100 percent by Sony. At this point in time, Aiwa had already announced the first LCD TVs for specialist retailers. This offer was withdrawn immediately, and it was not until years later that Sony offered flat-screen televisions under its own brand name.

Aiwa-owned factories, including a state-of-the-art production facility in Wales , were sold and the company takeover was financed with the proceeds and an upcoming tax loss allocation for Aiwa in Japan. The bottom line for the fiscal year 2002/2003 was a small surplus for Sony, which improved its balance sheet somewhat.

After the takeover, Aiwa mainly sold audio equipment , such as hi-fi systems, discmans and MP3 players through to remote controls, as an expanded sales channel for Sony .

In 2004 new products were introduced, but received negative press reports. In the same year, Sony stopped supporting Aiwa products. From 2005 Aiwa products were only sold in a few countries. In 2006, Sony discontinued the Aiwa brand entirely.

In 2013, the US American River West Brands acquired the trademark rights from Aiwa and then entered into a partnership with Hale Devices from Chicago , which in 2015 was renamed "Aiwa". Audio accessories for Android smartphones will be sold under the new brand .