Canon Computer Systems
{{Short description|American subsidiary (1992–2001)}}
{{Infobox company
| name=Canon Computer Systems
| logo=File:Canon Computer Systems wordmark.svg
| image=Canon Computer Systems Former Headquarters 2022.jpg
| image_caption=Former headquarters in Costa Mesa, California
| type=Subsidiary
| industry=Computers
| founded={{start date and age|1992|04}}
| defunct={{end date and age|2001|01}}
| fate=Restructured
| successor=Canon Digital Home and Personal Systems
| hq_location_city=Costa Mesa, California
| hq_location_country=United States
| products={{unbulleted list|Innova series|NoteJet|Bubble Jet}}
| parent=Canon Inc.
| website={{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961031120742/http://www.ccsi.canon.com/|date=October 31, 1996|title=ccsi.canon.com}}
}}
Canon Computer Systems, Inc. (CCSI), sometimes shortened to Canon Computer, was an American subsidiary of Canon Inc. formed in 1992 to develop and market the parent company's personal computers and workstations. The subsidiary also assumed the responsibility of marketing Canon's printers and photocopiers, which were formerly sold by other Canon divisions. It went defunct in January 2001.
History
Canon entered the computer industry in the 1970s,{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=January 7, 1997 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/315650791/ | title=Canon Bows Out of PC Market And Instead Will Produce Wafers | journal=Asian Wall Street Journal | page=7 | publisher=Dow Jones & Company | via=ProQuest}} starting with the AX-1 in October 1978. It sported the form factor of a desktop calculator and was fully programmable.{{cite web | last=Staff writer | date=April 15, 2011 | url=http://museum.ipsj.or.jp/en/computer/personal/0079.html | title=Canon AX-1 | publisher=IPSJ Computer Museum | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140703040522/http://museum.ipsj.or.jp/en/computer/personal/0079.html | archivedate=July 3, 2014}}{{cite book | last=Wiltshire | first=Alex | author2=John Short | date=2020 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hUDXyQEACAAJ | title=Home Computers: 100 Icons that Defined a Digital Generation | publisher=MIT Press | via=Google Books | isbn=9780262044011}} Excerpt in {{cite web | last=Leonard | first= Marie-Anne | date=2020 | url=https://en.canon-cna.com/view/canon-v20-home-computing-icon/ | title=The Canon V-20, home computing icon | publisher=Canon Inc. | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127210204/https://en.canon-cna.com/view/canon-v20-home-computing-icon/ | archivedate=November 27, 2021}} This was followed up with the AS-100 in 1982, which was a more-traditional albeit heavier personal computer that ran a Intel 8088 and ran MS-DOS.{{cite web | last=Staff writer | date=n.d. | url=https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=591 | title=Canon AS-100 | work=Old-Computers.com | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802093111/https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=591 | archivedate=August 2, 2021}} Canon entered the home computer market in 1984 with the V-20 and V-10 in 1984 and 1985 respectively. In 1987, the company released the Canon Cat—the brainchild of Jef Raskin who pioneered Apple's original Macintosh.{{cite web | last=Rubin | first=Ross | date=July 27, 2019 | url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90380553/meet-the-canon-cat-the-forgotten-1987-alternate-reality-mac | title=Meet the Canon Cat, the forgotten 1987 alternate-reality Mac | work=Fast Company | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190727052758/https://www.fastcompany.com/90380553/meet-the-canon-cat-the-forgotten-1987-alternate-reality-mac | archivedate=July 27, 2019}} In 1989, the company took a large stake in NeXT, a computer hardware company founded by Steve Jobs in 1987 after he resigned as CEO of Apple in the mid-1980s.{{cite web | last=Staff writer | date=March 2, 1994 | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-03-02-fi-29142-story.html | title=Canon Computer to Ship NextStation | work=Los Angeles Times | agency=Bloomberg Business News | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127211928/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-03-02-fi-29142-story.html | archivedate=November 27, 2021}}
In April 1992, Canon spun off their computer manufacturing into Canon Computer Systems, a new subsidiary that also assumed the responsibility of marketing their parent company's printers and photocopiers. The subsidiary initially comprised 100 employees in October 1992, 50 based in Costa Mesa, California. Yasuhiro Tsubota, who founded Epson America in 1978, was named president. Several other higher-ups came from Epson America;{{cite journal | last=Vranizan | first=Michelle | date=October 24, 1992 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/272621646/ | title=Canon Computer Joins PC Wars | journal=The Orange County Register | page=C1 | via=ProQuest}} Tsubota left Epson for NeXT 1990, to serve as a consultant for Jobs.{{cite web | last=Levin | first=Dan | date=January 1994 | url=http://simson.net/ref/NeXT/nextworld/NextWorld_Extra/94.01.Jan.NWE/94.01.Jan.NWExtra21.html | title=Canon nabs Epson execs | work=NextWorld Extra | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100311094109/http://simson.net/ref/NeXT/nextworld/NextWorld_Extra/94.01.Jan.NWE/94.01.Jan.NWExtra21.html | archivedate=March 11, 2010 | via=Simson.net}} The subsidiary's first offerings were a line of desktop computers and notebook-sized laptops, branded as the Innova and Innova Book respectively. The company expected $125 million in revenue by October 1993. They allocated $10 million of their initial budget on advertising, hiring the newly formed Hajjar/Kaufman (a spinoff of Dentsu) as their advertising agency.{{cite journal | last=Elliott | first=Stuart | date=November 16, 1992 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/428761538/ | title=Dentsu Americ Forms a Spinoff | journal=The New York Times | page=D7 | via=ProQuest}}
Most if not all of the notebooks in the Innova Book line were produced offshore by Taiwanese OEMs. Canon repeatedly turned to Chicony of Taipei, who lent their designs to Canon for their Innova Book 10 and Innova Book 200LS.{{cite journal | last=Zimmerman | first=Michael R. | date=June 27, 1994 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A16068130/GPS?sid=wikipedia | title=Chicony sows crop of portables | journal=PC Week | volume=11 | issue=25 | page=61 | publisher=Ziff-Davis | via=Gale OneFile}}{{cite journal | last=DiCarlo | first=Lisa | date=March 27, 1995 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A16742714/GPS?sid=wikipedia | title=IPC releases slim notebook, big-screen unit | journal=PC Week | volume=12 | issue=12 | page=45 | publisher=Ziff-Davis | via=Gale OneFile}} The former, released in 1994, was a subnotebook four pounds in weight,{{cite journal | last=Lee | first=Yvonne L. | date=May 9, 1994 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gzgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA35 | title=Canon ships color notebooks, ink-jet printers | journal=InfoWorld | volume=16 | issue=19 | page=36 | publisher=IDG Communications | via=Google Books}} while the latter, released in 1995, sported the largest screen of any laptop up to that point, at 11.3 inches diagonal.{{cite journal | last=Somers | first=Ana | date=May 30, 1995 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=elneMPYGaagC&pg=PA40 | title=Innova Book: If Screen Size Matters More than Performance | journal=PC Magazine | volume=14 | issue=10 | page=40 | publisher=Ziff-Davis | via=Google Books}}{{cite journal | last=Lee | first=Yvonne L. | date=February 13, 1995 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tjoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA37 | title=Innova Book 200LS line sports largest screen | journal=InfoWorld | volume=17 | issue=7 | page=40 | publisher=IDG Communications | via=Google Books}} Other models, including the 150, 300, and 400 series Innova Books, were manufactured by Featron, another Taiwanese OEM/ODM. Canon Computer collaborated with IBM's Japanese subsidiary to produce the Canon NoteJet, a notebook computer with a built-in inkjet printer, introduced to market in 1993.{{cite news|last=Lewis|first=Peter H.|date=April 18, 1993|title=The Executive Computer; Canon's New Laptop Packs a Nice Printer Inside|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/18/business/the-executive-computer-canon-s-new-laptop-packs-a-nice-printer-inside.html|url-status=live|access-date=November 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091214065010/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/18/business/the-executive-computer-canon-s-new-laptop-packs-a-nice-printer-inside.html|archive-date=December 14, 2009}} In March 1994, Canon Computer took the reins of the NeXTstation after NeXT ceased manufacturing hardware in 1993.{{cite web | last=Staff writer | date=March 10, 1994 | url=https://techmonitor.ai/techonology/canon_computer_systems_forms_advanced_technology_unit_in_the_us_for_nextstation_powerhouse_boxes | title=Canon Computer Systems Forms Advanced Technology Unit in the US for NeXTstation, PowerHouse Boxes | work=Computer Business Review | publisher=New Statesman Media Group | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127215053/https://techmonitor.ai/techonology/canon_computer_systems_forms_advanced_technology_unit_in_the_us_for_nextstation_powerhouse_boxes | archivedate=November 27, 2021}} They later released the Object.Station, an x86-based workstation based on the NeXTstation design.{{cite web | last=Staff writer | date=n.d. | url=https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=1153 | title=Canon Object.Station | work=Old-Computers.com | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803094635/https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=1153 | archivedate=August 3, 2021}}
Although Canon Computer set a goal of $1 billion sales by 1997 in 1994, they were considered late newcomers to the market of personal computers.{{cite web | last=Takahashi | first=Dean | date=March 29, 1994 | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-03-29-fi-39780-story.html | title=Canon Computer a Latecomer to PC Movement | work=Los Angeles Times | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127215337/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-03-29-fi-39780-story.html | archivedate=November 27, 2021}} Innovas and Innova Books continued to be sold until January 1997, when the company quietly left the desktop and notebook market, citing poor sales.{{cite journal | last=Kirchner | first=Jake | date=July 1997 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HOYtntaY99UC&pg=PT226 | title=The PC Magazine 100 | journal=PC Magazine | volume=16 | issue=13 | pages=213–245 | publisher=Ziff-Davis | via=Google Books}} The subsidiary shifted its focus to silicon-on-insulator manufacturing, spending {{¥|3}}{{nbsp}}billion (US$25.8 million in 1997) to open up a clean room facility at Canon's plant in Hiratsuka, Tokyo. As part of this refocusing, Canon sold its existing shares of NeXT to Apple, who were in the process of acquiring that company after Jobs re-entered Apple in 1997. Canon Computer continued to sell printers, scanners and digital cameras until January 2001, when the subsidiary was restructured and renamed to Canon Digital Home and Personal Systems. Tsubota was replaced by Ryoichi Bamba.{{cite web | date=January 5, 2001 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/446066585/ | title=Canon U.S.A. Makes Strategic Move to Serve Digital Marketplace | publisher=Business Wire | via=ProQuest}}
Computers
{{col-float}}
{{col-float-break|style=padding-right:5em;}}
=Desktops=
{{col-float-break|style=padding-right:5em;}}
=Notebooks=
==Innova==
==Subnotebooks==
==NoteJet==
{{Main|Canon NoteJet}}
==Other==
| class="wikitable sortable"
! Name ! Processor ! Clock speed ! Stock ! LCD technology ! Date | |||||
| PN-100 | PowerPC 603e | 100 | 16 | Active-matrix color | {{date table sorting|1995|07}}{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=July 10, 1995 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DIZr_h2MV9YC&pg=PP42 | title=Canon debuts PowerPC line | journal=Computerworld | volume=29 | issue=28 | page=42 | publisher=IDG Communications | via=Google Books}} |
| Power Notebook | PowerPC 603e | 100 | 32 | Active-matrix color | {{date table sorting|1995|08}}{{cite journal | last=Clyman | first=John | date=August 1995 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aS7TOePnRDAC&pg=PA40 | title=Power Notebook: PowerPC Goes Mobile | journal=PC Magazine | volume=14 | issue=14 | page=40 | publisher=Ziff-Davis | via=Google Books}} |
{{col-float-break|style=padding-right:5em;}}
=Workstations=
{{col-float-end}}
References
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
External links
- {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961031120742/http://www.ccsi.canon.com/|date=October 31, 1996|title=Official website}}
{{Canon}}
{{Coord|33|40|17|N|117|52|46|W|display=title}}
Category:American companies established in 1992
Category:American companies disestablished in 2001
Category:Computer companies established in 1992
Category:Computer companies disestablished in 2001
Category:Defunct computer companies based in California
Category:Defunct computer companies of the United States