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is a Japanese multinational corporation that designs and manufactures electronic products. Headquartered in Abeno-ku, Osaka, Japan, Sharp employed 49,096 people worldwide as of March 2015. The company was founded in September 1912 and takes its name from one of its founder's first inventions, the Ever-Sharp mechanical pencil, which was invented by Tokuji Hayakawa (早川 徳次) in 1915. As of 2013, Sharp Corporation is the tenth-largest, by market share, television manufacturer in the world.〔(Global market share held by LCD TV manufacturers from 2008 to 2013 ). Retrieved 26 February 2015.〕 In Japan it has been a long-time leader.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Market Share Ranking in Japan - Japan Business Resources )〕 Sharp has at times also been the most popular mobile phone brand in the Japanese market, but is currently third biggest.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=In Japan, Smartphones Surpass Feature Phones among Newly Acquired Devices for First Time Ever )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=iPhone accounted for 60% share of the Japanese mobile phone brand harmed Japan )〕 ==History== In 1912, Tokuji Hayakawa (早川 徳次) founded a metal workshop in Tokyo. The first of his many inventions was a snap buckle named 'Tokubijo'. Another of his inventions was the Ever-Sharp mechanical pencil in 1915, from which the Sharp Corporation derived its name.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Eversharp history )〕 After the pencil business was destroyed by the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, the company relocated to Osaka and began designing the first generation of Japanese radio sets. These went on sale in 1925. In 1953, Sharp started producing television sets. In 1964, Sharp developed the world's first transistor calculator, which was priced at ¥535,000 (US$1,400). It took Sharp several years to develop the product as they had no experience in making computing devices at the time. Two years later, in 1966, Sharp introduced its first IC calculator using 145 Mitsubishi-made bipolar ICs, priced at ¥350,000 (about US$1000). Its first LSI calculator was introduced in 1969. This was the first pocketable calculator priced at less than ¥100,000 (less than US$300), and turned out to be a popular item. The company produced the first LCD calculator in 1973. Sharp had a working relationship with Nintendo during the 1980s, and was granted licensing rights for the manufacture and development of the C1 NES TV (1983, later released in North America as the Sharp Nintendo Television), the Twin Famicom (1986), the Sharp Famicom Titler (1989), and the SF-1 SNES TV (1990). All of these units are considered collectors items on the secondary market. One of the company's main inventors of LCD calculators was Tadashi Sasaki. Sharp's Mobile Communications Division created the world's first commercial camera phone, the J-SH04, in Japan in 2000. Since 2000, Sharp has heavily invested in LCD panel manufacturing plants: Kameyama in 2004, Sakai in 2009. The Sakai plant is still the only 10th generation LCD manufacturing plant on the globe and best fit for production of 60 inch or larger panels. However, the 2008 financial crisis and strong Yen (especially against Won) significantly lowered world demand for Japanese LCD panels. Furthermore, the switch to digital TV broadcasting was virtually completed in Japan by the middle of 2011. Via Japanese government issued coupons for digital TV sets, consumers were encouraged to purchase digital TV sets until March 2011. This hit the Japanese LCD TV market, reducing it almost by half from 2010. All of those events strongly hit Sharp's LCD business. As the result, the Sakai LCD plant suffered a reduced operating rate until Q3 2012. In June 2005 Sharp produced the largest LCD television at the time, with a display of 65 inches. It went on sale in August 2005 in Japan.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Sharp to produce World's largest LCD television at 65 inches )〕 From 2005 to 2010 Sharp was the biggest mobile phone brand in Japan. Since then it has been constantly switching places through financial quarters against rivals Fujitsu, Apple and Sony. Sharp acquired a controlling stake in Pioneer Corporation in 2007. At CES 2007, Sharp introduced a prototype largest LCD TV, with a screen size of 108 inches.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Sharp showcases World’s largest LCD TV - 108 inches )〕 In July 2008 Sharp announced that the model will go into production for the Japanese market.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Sharp to Introduce Worlds Largest 108-Inch LCD Monitor for Commercial Applications; Now Accepting Orders - Press Releases:SHARP )〕 In 2008, Sharp collaborated with Emblaze Mobile on the ''Monolith'', "...an ambitious project to design the ultimate holistic mobile device".〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher = Emblaze Mobile )〕 The project was never brought to market. Key software developers were later picked up by other companies. On 25 June 2009, Sharp and Pioneer agreed to form a joint venture comprising their optical businesses, called "Pioneer Digital Design and Manufacturing Corporation". In 2012 Sharp unveiled the largest production television at the time, with a screen size of 80 inches. It is part of the Aquos range and went on sale in Japan at around ¥950,000.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Sharp unveils largest TV on domestic market )〕 2012 was the 100th anniversary for Sharp but it announced the worst financial record in its history, with a loss of 376 billion yen (US$4.7 billion) in April 2012. In September, Sharp announced job cuts.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Sharp Considers 10,000 Job Cuts )〕 In 2014, Sharp was able to stem losses and deliver a positive net income for its first quarter results. In March 2012 the Taiwan-based electronics company Hon Hai, trading as Foxconn, agreed to acquire a 10 percent stake in Sharp Corporation for US$806 million, and to purchase up to 50 percent of the LCD displays produced at Sharp's plant in Sakai, Japan. In June 2012, Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou paid money for Sakai plant and got 50% ownership of the plant. However, since the announcement in March, Sharp's share price continued declining and reached ¥192 at August 3. Sharp deal's price was originally ¥550 per share. Both companies agreed to renegotiate the share price, but they never came to an agreement. Sharp announced it accepted a US$100 million investment from Samsung in March 2013. In 2013 Sharp developed the most efficient solar cell, converting a record 44.4% of sunlight into electricity.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Solar Cell Efficiency World Record Set By Sharp -- 44.4% - CleanTechnica )〕 After years of huge losses in its overseas television business, Sharp sold its Mexico television factory to Chinese electronics manufacturer Hisense for $23.7 million in July 2015. The sale includes rights to use the Sharp brand name and all its channel resources in North and South America, except Brazil. This effectively meant that Sharp has exited the television market in the Americas (except Brazil). It was a sign showing Sharp's rapid decline in that market, where it once was one of the leading manufacturers for LCD TVs only a decade earlier.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=What Does Sharp Exiting the TV Business Really Mean? - Consumer Reports )〕 Sharp's television market share in North America was 4.6% in 2015. However Sharp remains the biggest television brand in the Japanese market.〔 In October 2015 Sharp announced a smartphone that also works as a robot, called RoboHon. It will be sold in 2016 in Japan.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Video: Sharp has invented a smartphone that's also a ridiculously cute robot - Telegraph )〕 Sharp will sell the world's first commercially available television with a 8K resolution, starting October 2015. The 85-inch LV-85001 model costs ¥16 million (US$133,000). Japanese public broadcaster NHK will have test broadcasts at 8K starting 2016, with regular services expected by the time of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Sharp will launch 8K TVs next month, at six-digit prices )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sharp Corporation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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