Canon (company)

Canon Inc. (キヤノン株式会社, Kyanon Kabushiki Gaisha?, TYO: 7751 , NYSE: CAJ) is a Japanese company that specializes in imaging and optical products, including cameras, photocopiers and computer printers. The headquarters are in 30-2, Shimomaruko 3-chome, Ota-ku, Tokyo. Their North American headquarters is located in Lake Success, New York, USA.
The predecessor company was established in 1903 by Goro Yoshida and his brother-in-law Saburo Uchida. Named Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory (Seiki Kōgaku Kenkyūjo, Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory?), it was funded by Takeshi Mitarai, a close friend of Uchida. Its original purpose was to develop a 35mm rangefinder camera.


1934 logo depicting the Bodhisattva Kwan'on.
In June 1934 they released their first camera, the Kwanon (see "Origins of company name" below). Three variations of this product were marketed, however, none were actual products. Of the ten Kwanon cameras that were rumored to be produced, none were ever known to reach the market.
The new company was off to a good start. However, there was a problem: Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory had not developed a lens. Several alternatives were considered, but the decision was made to seek help from a corporation known as Nippon Kogaku Kogyo (Japan Optical Industries, Inc., the predecessor of Nikon) to use their Nikkor lens. So in February 1936, the Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory was able to release the "Hansa Canon (Standard Model with the Nikkor 50mm f/3.5 lens)", which became Kwanon's first commercially available camera.
The following year the company name was changed to Canon to reflect a more modern image, and on 10 August 1937, the current corporation was founded.[1]
Today, despite the company's high profile in the consumer market for cameras and computer printers, most of the company revenue comes from the office products division, especially for analog and digital copiers, and its line of imageRUNNER digital multifunctional devices. Additionally, Canon is the supplier of print engines found in the hugely popular Hewlett-Packard LaserJet series of laser printers. [2]
Canon has also entered the digital displays market by teaming up with Toshiba to develop and manufacture flat panel televisions based on SED, a new type of display technology. The joint venture company SED Inc. was established in October 2004. In January 2007, Canon announced that it would buy Toshiba's share of the joint venture.[3] This move was triggered by litigation from Nano-Proprietary, Inc., which claimed Canon breached a license agreement by sharing technology licensed to Canon with the joint venture company.[4]
Canon has also announced it is developing OLED and rear-projection displays.[5]