Electronics and Online Shopping, correlated? Yes, of course!
Electronics is the branch of physics, engineering and technology dealing with electrical circuits that involve active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies.
Today’s electronics engineers have the ability to design circuits using pre-manufactured building blocks such as power supplies, semiconductors such as transistors, and integrated circuits. Electronic design automation software programs include schematic capture programs and printed circuit board design programs. Popular names in the EDA software world are NI Multisim, Cadence (ORCAD), Eagle PCB and Schematic, Mentor (PADS PCB and LOGIC Schematic), Altium (Protel), LabCentre Electronics (Proteus), gEDA, KiCad and many others.
ON THE OTHER HAND, online shopping or online retailing is a form of electronic commerce, whereby consumers directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet without an intermediary service. An online shop, eshop, e-store, Internet shop, webshop, webstore, online store, or virtual store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks-and-mortar retailer or shopping center.
The process is called business-to-consumer (B2C) online shopping. When a business buys from another business it is called business-to-business (B2B) online shopping. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the retailer directly or by searching among alternative vendors using a shopping search engine.
Firmoo was established in May 2009 by Patrick Li and incorporated in the British Virgin Islands as Firmoo Optical Co., Ltd. Although the domain name was registered by the end of 2008, it wasn’t until September 2009 that the website was launched but for glasses site originally.
However, the idea of a logo only came up to Patrick Li later on. He told his designer what he pictured in his mind that the two small o’s or “oo” in Firmoo can be designed as a pair of eyeglasses, and what we see above is the outcome of what well represented a pair of spectacles. It was then that he decided to use Firmoo.com., the global online optical store.
Firmoo offers a variety of high-quality prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses at very competitive prices, usually “spiced” with thoughtful customer service. The customary practice of putting customers its highest priority significantly raised the company’s position as the leading online eyeglasses store in the world.
The e-commerce transition has not only made Firmoo keep up with online competitors, but it also gave the company the edge over the brick-and-mortar eyeglass stores. The company’s pursuit to establish the online optical store at affordable prices without compromising the quality of the eyewear was because of years of expertise in the optical industry, not to mention the perfect collaboration among the company’s optical experts, the direct manufacturers but also with overseas laboratories.
As Firmoo.com grew as an optical online store, the company never ceased to find ways improve. It started conducting surveys concerning the efficiency of the optical industry in terms of quality of the product, the price, and customer service. The company never runs out of perks and giveaways, and delivers worldwide. Most of all, Firmoo never forgets to give back part of its success to its valued customers. No wonder Firmoo is the most-talked about optical store by thousands on Facebook.
As stated by Firmoo’s CEO, Patrick Li, “Our team has selected hundreds of classical and fashionable styles in order to save time for our customers when they are choosing eyeglasses. We always believe in fashion and frugality.”
SHARP Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation that designs and manufactures electronic products. The company was a metal workshop in Tokyo founded in September 1912 by Tokuji Hayakawa. The first of the many of his inventions was a snap-buckle named “Tokubijo,” followed by the EVER-SHARP MECHANICAL PENCIL invented by the founder in 1915, where the company took its name. Since then it has developed into one of the leading electronics companies in the world.
After the pencil business was destroyed by the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, the company relocated to Osaka and began designing the first generation of Japanese radio sets. These went on sale in 1925. In 1953, SHARP started producing television sets.
It took Sharp several years to develop the product as they had no experience in making computing devices at the time. In 1966, SHARP introduced the first IC calculator using 145 Mitsubishi-made bipolar ICs priced at about US$1,400 and the first LSI calculator was developed. It was the world’s first transistor calculator and the first “pocketable” calculator that turned out to be a popular item priced less than US$300.
Other notable achievements include the first LCD calculator in 1973. LCD technology continues to be a key part of Sharp’s product range, in both the component and consumer-appliance sides of the business.
Sharp shared a close working relationship with Nintendo during the 1980s and was granted licensing rights for the manufacture and development of the C1 NES TV, which was later released in North America as the Sharp Nintendo Television in 1983, the Twin Famicom in 1986, the Sharp Famicom Titler in 1989, and the SF-1 SNES TV in 1990. All of these units are considered collector’s items in the secondary market.
Sharp’s Mobile Communications Division created the world’s first commercial camera phone, the J-SH04, in Japan in 1997. In 2008, the company collaborated with Emblaze Mobile on the Monolith, an ambitious project to design the ultimate holistic mobile device. The project was never brought to the market. Key software developers were later picked up by other companies.
SHARP’s core technologies and products include: LCD panels, solar panels, mobile phones, audio-visual entertainment equipment, video projectors, Multi-Function Printing Devices, microwave ovens, air conditioners, cash registers, CMOS and CCD sensors, and flash memory.
The first commercial camera phone was also made by Sharp for the Japanese market in November 2000. Recent products include the ViewCam, the Ultra-Lite notebook PC, the Zaurus personal digital assistant, Sidekick 3, and the AQUOS flat screen television.
Sharp manufactures a variety of consumer electronic products. These include LCD televisions, sold under the Aquos brand, mobile phones, microwave ovens, Home cinema and audio systems, air purification systems, fax machines and calculators.
For the business market, Sharp also produces ranges of projectors and monitors and a variety of photocopiers and Laser Printers, in addition to electronic cash registers and Point of sale technologies.The company is a pioneer and innovator in the field of multi-functional devices (MFD) having won many awards from BLI and BERTL, the two major authorities providing competitive intelligence and test reviews in the print industry.
SHARP’s latest products, MX2600N and MX3100N, have once again broken new ground with the launch of version 3 Open System Architecture or OSA3. This feature enhances productivity further still by letting third party developers directly integrate their business applications with the MFD.
Sharp Solar has for a number of years been a leading supplier of silicon photovoltaic (PV) solar cells. Now, it offers solar TV. In Q1 2010, they were rated the number one producer of solar PV systems in terms of revenues.
In March 2012 the Taiwan-based electronics company Hon Hai, commonly known as Foxconn, agreed to acquire a 10 percent stake in Sharp Corporation for US$806 million and to purchase up to 50 percent of the LCD displays produced at Sharp’s plant in Sakai, Japan.
Sharp acquired a controlling stake in Pioneer Corporation in 2007. In June 25, 2009, SHARP and Pioneer agreed to form a joint venture comprising their optical businesses, called “Pioneer Digital Design and Manufacturing Corporation.
3M Company started out on the North Shore of Lake Superior in Illgen City before moving to Two Harbors in 1902. Formerly known as The Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, it is an American multinational conglomerate corporation based in Maplewood, Minnesota, which was then changed to 3M when the company diversified and focused on innovative new products.
The founders’ original plan was to sell the mineral corundum to manufacturers in the East for making grinding wheels. After selling one load, on June 13, 1902, the five went to the Two Harbors office of company secretary John Dwan and signed papers making Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing a corporation. In reality, however, Dwan and his associates were not selling what they thought; they were really selling the worthless mineral anorthosite. So it began by mining stone from quarries for use in grinding wheels.
Struggling with quality and marketing of its products, management supported its workers to innovate and develop new products which became its core business. Failing to make sandpaper with the anorthosite, the founders decided to import minerals like Spanish garnet, after which sale of sandpapers grew.
In 1914, customers complained that the garnet was falling off the paper. The founders discovered that the stones had traveled across the Atlantic Ocean packed near olive oil that penetrated the stones. Unable to take the loss of selling expensive inventory, they roasted the stones over fire to remove the olive oil. This was the first instance of research and development at 3M.
Twelve years after being founded, 3M developed its first exclusive product: Three-M-ite cloth. Other innovations in this era included masking tape, waterproof sandpaper and Scotch brand tapes.
By 1929, 3M made its first moves toward international expansion by forming Durex to conduct business in Europe. The same year, the company’s stock was first traded over the counter and in 1946 listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The company is currently a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and of the S&P 500.
JEFF BEZOS wanted a name for his company that began with letter “A” so it would appear early in alphabetical order. He started to look through the dictionary and saw “AMAZON.” He settled to name his company “AMAZON” because it starts with an “A,” and it was the river that he considered the biggest in the world. Truly as he hoped his company would be and as it is now. The company was incorporated as Cadabra in July 1994, and the site went online as amazon.com in 1995.
Amazon.com, Inc., is an American multinational electronic commerce company with headquarters in Seattle, Washington; and the world’s largest online retailer. It also produces consumer electronics, notably, the Amazon Kindle e-book reader, and a major provider of cloud computing services. Amazon.com started as an online bookstore, but soon diversified into selling DVDs, CDs, MP3 downloads, software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys, and jewelry.
Originally, the site belonged to ECHO BAY TECHNOLOGY, Pierre Omidyar’s consulting firm. He tried to register the domain name echobay.com; however, a gold mining company, ECHO BAYMINES, had already taken the name. As Omidyar’s second choice, he shortened it to EBAY.COM. Why the different colors for each letter, just no reason at all.
eBay, Inc. is an American Internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide.
Founded in 1995, eBay is one of the notable success stories of the dot-com bubble. It is now a multi-billion-dollar business with operations localized in over thirty countries. eBay expanded from its original “set-time” auction format to include “BUY IT NOW” standard shopping.
The online auction website was founded as AuctionWeb in San Jose, California, in September 5, 1995, by French-born Iranian-American computer programmer Pierre Omidyar as part of a larger personal site that included, among other things, Omidyar’s own tongue-in-cheek tribute to the Ebola virus.
One of the first items sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer for $14.83. Astonished, Omidyar contacted the winning bidder to ask if he understood that the laser pointer was broken. In his responding email, the buyer explained, “I’m a collector of broken laser pointers.”
The frequently repeated story that eBay was founded to help Omidyar’s fiancée trade Pez candy dispensers was fabricated by a public relations manager in 1997 to interest the media, which were not interested in the company’s previous explanation about wanting to create a “perfect market.” This was revealed in Adam Cohen’s 2002 book, The Perfect Store, and confirmed by eBay.
Chris Agarpao was hired as eBay’s first employee and Jeffrey Skoll was hired as the first president of the company in early 1996 and Meg Whitman was hired as eBay President and CEO in March 1998. At that time there were 30 employees.
eBay went public on September 21, 1998,and both Omidyar and Skoll became instant billionaires. eBay’s target share price of $18 was all but ignored as the price went to $53.50 on the first day of trading. As the company expanded product categories beyond collectibles into almost any saleable item, business grew quickly.
In February 2002, the company purchased IBazar, a similar European auction web site founded in 1993, and then bought PayPal on October 14, 2002. By early 2008, the company had expanded worldwide. In late 2009, eBay completed the sale of Skype for $2.75 billion, but will still own 30% equity in the company.
In July 2010, eBay was sued for $3.8 billion by XPRT Ventures that accused eBay of stealing information shared in confidence by the inventors on XPRT’s own patents and incorporated it into features in its own payment systems, such as PayPal Pay Later and PayPal Buyer Credit.
In December 20, 2010, eBay announced its acquisition of a German online shopping club, brands4friends.de, for $197 million to strengthen the company’s interests in the fashion industry in Europe.
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