Cooper Hewitt says...
Sony Corporation was formed in 1946 in Tokyo as a radio-repair shop, and today is a global company that manufactures an array of technological products. Sony's radios launched the company to fame and became the first Japanese product of industrial design to achieve international status. In the 1950s, Sony developed a reputation for transistor technology, which it used in portable radios. The company produced the TR-55, it's first transistor radio, in 1955. In 1960, an American subsidiary called Sony Corporation of America, was formed. Throughout the 1950s and 60s, Sony's design department had a distinct approach to radio design, which became a design philosophy for all their consumer electronics: "...create a market with bold, innovative, products. Refine the approach. Create the icon that everyone recognizes...."
Lyons, Nick, The Sony Vision. New York, NY: Crown Publishers, Inc. 1976
Kunkel, Paul, Digital Dreams: The Work of the Sony Design Center, New York, NY : Universe Publications, 1999
Bailey, Stephen, Sony Design, London : Conran Foundation, 1982
www.sony.net/Fun/design/history/index.html
