43 years ago this month, Joop Sinjou of @Philips introduced the Compact Disc, a collaboration with @Sony, on 9 March 1979. It went on to become the de facto standard for recorded audio whose impact is still felt today.
Also by 1963 PHILIPS had developed a tape, enclosed in plastic casing, that was “smaller than a pack of cigarettes.” Ultimately, more than 100 billion standard cassette tapes were sold.
PHILIPS Electronics was first at a lot of things: invented the audio cassette, CD, CD-RW, DVD, launched first FlatTV, largest lightbulb manufacturer, owned PolyGram the world’s largest Record label, owns Norelco electronic shavers the world’s highest volume and at one time the world’s largest manufacturer of CRT TV tubes, second largest LCD panels manufacturer and much much more. Philips has over 60,000 invention patents and 30,000 design patents. Regrettably many of Philips inventions were just too early for the mass market to adopt.
PHILIPS Electronics, of the Netherlands, was the third largest electronics company with sales of U.S. $41 billion. With 262,500 employees in more than 60 countries, it is well known for its activities in the lighting, semiconductors and components, consumer products, professional products and systems areas including software and services.
When I worked for Philips I got the opportunity to launch the Compact Disc three times. Once as a component selling it to Compaq Computers, Gateway Computers, H/P, Apple etc. Then as a finished PC product to retail chains such as Fry’s Electronics, CompUSA, Circuit City, Best Buy, Computer City, Good Guys, Sharper Image, TigerDirect, and more. Lastly launched as a consumer retail audio/video stereo product to Sears, Target, Radio Shack, JC Penny’s, etc.
