Casio


Casio Computer Co., Ltd. is a Japanese multinational consumer electronics and commercial electronics manufacturing company headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Its products include calculators, mobile phones, digital cameras, electronic musical instruments, and analogue and digital watches. It was founded in 1946, and in 1957 introduced the world's first entirely electric compact calculator. It was an early digital camera innovator, and during the 1980s and 1990s, the company developed numerous affordable home electronic keyboards for musicians along with introducing the world's first mass-produced digital watches.

History

Casio was established as Kashio Seisakujo in April 1946 by Tadao Kashio, an engineer specializing in fabrication technology. Kashio's first major product was the yubiwa pipe, a finger ring that would hold a cigarette, allowing the wearer to smoke the cigarette down to its nub while also leaving the wearer's hands-free. Japan was impoverished immediately following World War II, so cigarettes were valuable, and the invention was a success.
After seeing the electric calculators at the first Business Show in Ginza, Tokyo in 1949, Kashio and his younger brothers used their profits from the yubiwa pipe to develop their calculators. Most of the calculators at that time worked using gears and could be operated by hand using a crank or using a motor.
Toshio possessed some knowledge of electronics and set out to make a calculator using solenoids. The desk-sized calculator was finished in 1954 and was Japan's first electro-mechanical calculator. One of the central and more important innovations of the calculator was its adoption of the 10-key number pad; at that time other calculators were using a "full keypad", which meant that each place in the number had nine keys. Another distinguishing innovation was the use of a single display window instead of the three display windows used in other calculators.
Casio Computer Co., Ltd. was formed in June 1957. That year, Casio released the Model 14-A, sold for 485,000 yen, the world's first all-electric compact calculator, which was based on relay technology.
In the 1980s, Casio's budget electronic instruments and its line of affordable home electronic musical keyboard instruments became popular. The company also became well known for the wide variety and innovation of its wristwatches. It was one of the earliest manufacturers of quartz watches, both digital and analog. It also began selling calculator watches during this time. Casio also introduced one of the first watches that could display the time in many different time zones of the world and with features like recording temperature, atmospheric-pressure and altitude. In the later years, Casio's wristwatches were fitted with receivers to synchronise with radio towers around the world and Global Positioning System for timekeeping accuracy.
A number of notable digital camera innovations have also been made by Casio, including the QV-10, the first consumer digital camera with an LCD screen on the back, the first consumer three-megapixel camera, the first true ultra-compact model, and the first digital camera to incorporate ceramic lens technology, using Lumicera.

Price fixing

In July 2019, the company's UK arm, Casio Electronics Co. Ltd , was fined £3.7 million after admitting resale price maintenance between 2013 and 2018, in breach of the United Kingdom's Competition Act 1998.

Products

Casio's products include watches, calculators, electronic keyboards and other digital products such as digital cameras, film cameras, cash registers, laptops and sub-notebook computers, mobile phones, PDAs, electronic dictionaries, digital diaries, electronic games, computer printers, clocks, and portable televisions.
In the 1970s and 80s, Casio was best known for its electronic calculators, electronic musical instruments and affordable digital watches incorporating innovative technology. Today, Casio is most commonly known for making durable and reliable electronic products. The G-Shock range of shock-resistant watches is also very popular, with the original 1983 G-Shock DW-5000C being highly sought-after by collectors. The scientific calculators made by Casio especially the CLASSWIZ series of calculators are known for being affordable while incorporating a host of functions as compared to their competitors.
Casio also makes products for local markets, including "Prayer Compass" watch series designed to help Muslims pray on time and in the right direction.

Calculators

Scientific calculators

Casio calculators include:
Casio watches include:

Gallery