Elecom

Elecom was founded in May 1986 in Osaka, Japan by Junji Hada . The company opened a facility in Miyakojima-ku and manufactured office furniture such as computer desks. In November of the same year, they opened an office in Itabashi in Tokyo. The following November, offices were opened in Nagoya and Fukuoka. They introduced an oval mouse in 1988, different than the common rectangular mouse that was popular at that time, and the oval mouse became the global standard. A Tokyo distribution center was opened in December 1988.Their first ten key keyboard was launched in September 1989. The following September, an office was opened in Sapporo, and their Sendai office was expanded to include a distribution center in March 1991. Elecom Sales was spun-off in July 1991, with offices in Minamikawachi. Elecom Computer Products was established in the United States in September 1992.Seiko Epson sued Elecom and manufacturer Ester Industries in September 2000, claiming that Elecom's manufacturing and sales of ink cartridges compatible with Epson printers infringed on their patent. The suit was dismissed in March 2002 when the Japan Patent Office withdrew Seiko Epson's patent, stating it did not meet the requirement for originality.Elecom won the top spot in the categories for mobile phone audio accessory, mobile phone battery charger, smartphone case, smartphone screen protector, and tablet accessory every year from 2017 to 2020 in the annual BCN Awards . Due to COVID-19, demand for webcams and microphones tripled or quadrupled due to the increase in people working from home. At the same time, due to the increase in popularity of notebook computers, the demand for its computer stands has sharply decreased, causing them to quickly change the company's product focus.A charity golf tournament was hosted by Elecom at the Yomiuri Country Club in on June 17, 2020 to raise money for healthcare workers due to the impact of COVID-19. It was the first professional golf tournament since the spread of the virus.In June 2020, Daiwa Securities reported they had reduced their holdings in Elecom from 5.20 percent to 3.45 percent.