Alps Electric Co.

Alps Electric Co., Ltd.
Type Public (TYO: 6770)
Founded 1948
Headquarters 1-7 Yukigaya-otsuka-machi
Ota, Tokyo, Japan
145-8501
Products Electronics devices
Website www.alps.com

Alps Electric Co., Ltd. (アルプス電気株式会社 Arupusu Denki Kabushiki-gaisha?) (TYO: 6770) produces electronic devices, including potentiometers and touchpads. Alps is a multinational corporation, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1948. As of August 2010, the CEO is Masataka Kataoka.[1] Alps is also well-known for the Alpine brand of car audio.

Alps touchpad hardware is developed and manufactured by the Cirque Corporation, which they acquired in 2003;[2] however, the parent company continues to write their own drivers. Their drivers are Windows certified. They all have simple features such as edge scrolling, but no programmability. They are mostly found in Sony, Toshiba and Dell notebooks, as well as the OLPC XO-1. They also manufacture keyboards for Apple computers, including the original Macintosh and the first iMac.

They also created printers, but have since dropped support of them outside the Japanese market, although there are suppliers sourcing stock of printers and consumables from Japan for sale worldwide.

References

  1. ^ "Official Announcement Regarding Revisions to Financial Results Forecast". Alps Electronic. http://www.alps.com/pdf/ir/disclosure/20100806_info_e.pdf. Retrieved 2010-09-24. 
  2. ^ Cirque Corporation Website: Alps Electric Co.

External links