VTech
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the education institution, see Virginia Tech.
- For the engine technology developed by Honda, see VTEC.
VTech (偉易達) is the common name of Video Technology Ltd. (SEHK: 0303 , LSE: VTH ), a Hong Kong-based manufacturer of consumer electronics. VTech products include cordless telephones and accessories, single-function computers such as email appliances, and simple computerized educational toys for children, including the V.Smile and V.Flash. The company was founded in 1976 and as of 2004, had approximately 20,000 employees worldwide. VTech Innovation, which does business as Advanced American Telephones, manufactures consumer telephones under the AT&T name, and was formerly a unit of Lucent, and prior to that AT&T.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, VTech also produced personal computers, including a series of IBM compatible PCs and the Laser 128, which was the only 100% legal clone of the popular Apple IIc computer. Apple Computer challenged VTech in court, as it had with Franklin Computer Corporation, but the Laser 128 had been produced by reverse engineering without violating any of Apple's copyrights or patents and stood up to Apple's legal challenges.
VTech stayed in the personal computer market until the days of the Intel 80486, mostly selling its computers at retail mass market stores under the VTech, Laser, and Leading Technology brand names.
