Oki Electric Industry Company
Founded in 1881 by Kibataro Oki as Meikosha, Ltd.
This summary is from Wikipedia. Unfortunately there is no mention of their tape recorder production.
Oki Kibatarō (沖 牙太郎?, 1848–1906) was an engineer formerly employed at a Japanese Ministry of Industry (Kōbushō) factory. In 1877, only a year after Alexander Graham Bell's invention, Kōbushō had started an effort to make telephone receivers by reverse engineering and Oki was in the team that came up with the first prototype. In January 1881, convinced that the nation was about to enter the age of communications, Oki founded Meikōsha, which was later renamed Oki Electric Industry. The company manufactured the first telephones in Japan in 1881, only five years after the device was invented by Bell.
During World War I, wartime demand brought large profits to OKI as demand for telephone service increased. A strong demand emerged for PBXs (Private Branch Exchange) and at that time, OKI installed the largest PBX system in Japan. In addition to business from Japan, overseas business also grew, providing railroad-type printers, portable telephones and electric wires outside Japan. From around 1920, OKI achieved notable advances in its technical development of the common-battery switchboard.
In the late 1930s, OKI’s plants were used towards meeting the military demand for goods having a major influence on OKI’s business. Based on this demand, OKI built new production plants, increased its capital and increased the number of its affiliates.
Though OKI increased its production capacity after the war to restore magnetotype telephones and exchanges that were damaged during the war, OKI endured great difficulties as it moved toward rebuilding itself. On November 1, 1949, Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. (today’s OKI) was established to replace the former Oki Electric Co., Ltd. And the two years later in November 1951, OKI’s shares were listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It was also at this time when OKI started mass-producing the “Type-4 telephone,” which was called the “symbol of Japan’s postwar reconstruction. OKI was also aware of learning new telecommunication technologies, and in 1956, it was the first to produce an 100-line Ericsson-type crossbar-switching systems for commercial use.
OKI gradually transformed itself into an electronics company from the second half of 1960s into the 1970s.
To respond to the high-level economic growth Japan was experiencing, OKI needed to speed up its business operations and clarify responsibilities. OKI began producing and supplying business machines such as Teletypewriters, and perforation typewriters. In June 1961, OKI launched OKITYPER2000, an electric teletypewriter that could simultaneously make perforation tapes and book entry forms. The company also developed and sold various general-purpose computers such as OKITAC-5090, the first domestically produced computer to use core memory.[citation needed]
In 1964 OKI developed OKISAVER, a terminal for online deposits which was provided to financial institutions.
In addition to minicomputers such as OKITAC series developed in the mid-1960s, OKI began supplying various I/O devices, electroprinters, and dot printers, mainly to the financial industry in the 1970s. OKI’s business at this time included cash dispensers(CDs), automatic depositors(ADs) and automated teller machines (ATMs).
It was at this time when OKI expanded its overseas business providing telecommunication systems to countries in the Middle East, Central and South American countries as well as other Asian countries. In 1972, OKI established Oki Data Corporation (ODC: today’s OKI Data Americas), a Japan-US joint venture in Philadelphia, to develop the DP100, dot printers.
Around that time in 1975, OKI developed the world’s first automobile telephone system together with Bell Labs. This was the beginning of OKI’s wireless technology, and today (as of 2009) OKI expands this technology into vehicle-to-vehicle communications and other ETC (Electronic toll collection) technologies.[citation needed]
In May 1980, OKI launched its IF-800 series,[6] which was a successful business-use PC business. It also added a facsimile business unit to develop private sector demand. In 1982, OKI introduced the world’s first cash-recycling ATM, allowing deposited banknotes to be immediately used for withdrawal.
Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, OKI operates in over 120 countries around the world.
OKI manufactured the first telephone in Japan in 1881, and now specializes not only in developing and manufacturing telecommunication equipment but also in information products and mechatronics products, such as Automated teller machine (ATMs) and printers. Its printer business is operated through OKI Data, under the brand name, OKI. OKI had a semiconductor business, in which it spun off and sold to Rohm Co., Ltd., on October 1, 2008.
OKI provides products to telecom carriers, financial institutions, government agencies, large corporation as well as SMBs both directly and via distributors and dealers.
OKI Data Group, which markets its products under the OKI brand, is focused on creating professional printed communications products, applications and services. The OKI Data Group provides a wide range of devices, from printers, faxes and multi-functional products to business applications and consultancy services.
OKI Data Americas also markets the OKI proColor Series, a line of digital production printers designed specifically for the graphic arts and production market inNorth America to offer print solutions for color-critical applications.
Billboard 1965
1964 -Stereo Review - Volume 13; Volume 13 - Page 16 While you're there, ask to listen tothe new OKI 555 solid state stereo tape recorder from Japan. Its exclusive 4-speaker systems will surround you with the finest in stereophonic sound. Its quality will compare with instruments selling for up to...
1965 - High Fidelity/Musical America - Volume 15, Issue 1- You can't tell the difference between the Oki 555 and any other stereo tape recorder until: You lift it. It's the lightest portable stereo tape system in the world. Under 25 lbs. You check for tubes. It has none. It's solid state (all transistors) .
Oki reel to reel tape recorder ads
