改变世界的12家公司

    8. 索尼公司

    二十世纪五十至八十年代，索尼公司（Sony ）从根本上重新定义了人类看待音频和视频产品的方式。虽然索尼公司不是第一台半导体收音机的制造者，但在1957年，它推出了一款极为成功的产品，帮助推动了流行音乐的并发变革。索尼公司20世纪6、70年代生产的彩色电视机提高了全球的质量标准。1979年，索尼推出的随身听Walkman又一次彻底改变了人类听音乐的方式；它预示了iPod的出现，显然它本应诞生在索尼公司。然而，等到iPod出现的时候，索尼公司的命运发生了变化。除了变革行业外，索尼公司还帮助推动了一个国家的进步。二十世纪五六十年代，“日本制造”是代表品质低劣的警示信号。到二十世纪八十年代，它含义恰恰相反，而索尼产品是促成这个变化的最明显的原因。—Geoff Colvin

    8. Sony

    The way the world thinks of audio and video products was fundamentally redirected by Sony SNE -1.17% from the 1950s through the 1980s. The company didn't make the first transistor radio, but in 1957 it introduced a hugely successful one that helped propel the concurrent revolution in popular music. Its color TV sets of the 1960s and 1970s raised the global standard for quality. The Walkman, introduced in 1979, again revolutionized the way the world listens to music; it foreshadowed the iPod, which Sony obviously should have invented. But by then its fortunes had changed. Beyond transforming an industry, Sony also helped advance its country. In the 1950s and 1960s, “Made in Japan” was a punchline that meant laughably poor quality. By the 1980s it meant the opposite, and Sony products were the most visible cause of the change. —Geoff Colvin