Canon

Canon Inc. (キャノン 株式会社, Kyanon ) is a Japanese headquartered in, Japan, specializing in optical, imaging, and industrial products, such as es, cameras, medical equipment, scanners, printers, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

Canon has a primary listing on the and is a constituent of the  Core30 and  index. It has a secondary listing on the.

History
The company was originally founded in Japan in 1933 as Precision Optical Industry Co. Ltd. (精機光学研究所, Seikikōgaku kenkyūsho) by, Goro Yoshida, Saburo Uchida and Takeo Maeda. In 1934, it produced the Kwanon, a prototype for Japan's first-ever 35 mm camera with a focal-plane-based shutter. During its early years the company did not have any facilities to produce its own optical glass, and its first cameras incorporated Nikkor lenses from Nippon Kogaku K.K. (which later became ). In 1947 the company name was changed to Canon Camera Co., Inc., shortened to Canon Inc. in 1969. The name Canon comes from Buddhist , previously transliterated as Kuanyin, Kwannon, or Kwanon in English.

Canon and Apple
Canon supplied numerous print engines to Apple for use in its LaserWriter line of laser printers. For monochrome models, Apple later switched to mechanisms. Though Apple exited the printer market in the late 1990s, Canon continues to provide its own peripherals for Mac.
 * LBP-CX — LaserWriter and LaserWriter Plus
 * LBP-SX — LaserWriter II series
 * LBP-LX — Early Personal LaserWriter series (LS, NT, NTR, and SC)
 * LBP-PX — Personal LaserWriter 300, 320, and LaserWriter 4/600 PS
 * LBP-EX — LaserWriter Pro 600 and 630
 * LBP-ZX — LaserWriter 16/600 PS
 * LBP-HX — Color LaserWriter 12/600 PS and 12/660 PS

Original Macintosh development team manager Jef Raskin left Apple in 1982 to develop the desktop computer.

Canon and NeXT
In 1989, Canon invested 100 million in NeXT for a 16.67% stake in Steve Jobs' venture. NeXT would be acquired by Apple Computer in a purchase that was completed on February 7, 1997 for $429 million to the original investors and 1.5 million shares of Apple stock to Jobs.