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A Little Canon History
from Wikipedia
The predecessor company was established in 1930 by Goro Yoshida
and his brother-in-law Saburo Uchida. Named Precision Optical
Instruments Laboratory (Seiki
Kōgaku Kenkyūjo), it was funded by
Takeshi Mitarai, a close friend of Uchida. Its original purpose was
to develop a 35 mm rangefinder camera.
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 50 mm 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.
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.
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.
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.
Canon has also announced it is developing OLED and
rear-projection displays.
Origins of company name
The name Canon began in 1934 with the Kwanon camera, which
Yoshida, a Buddhist, named after Guan Yin. The bodhisattva's
Japanese name is Kannon or, more rarely, Kwannon.
Looking to the mass market the following year, Uchida looked for
a more modern sounding name, settling on Canon. The word means
"scriptures" and implied accuracy, a desired trait in a
camera. The company trademarked the name Canon June 26, 1935.
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