Archos (, stylized as ARCHOS) is a French multinational electronics company that was established in 1988 by Henri Crohas. Archos manufactures tablets,

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

portable media player A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...

s and portable

data storage device Data storage is the recording (storing) of information (data) in a storage medium. Handwriting, phonographic recording, magnetic tape, and optical discs are all examples of storage media. Biological molecules such as RNA and DNA are conside ...

s. The name is an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...

of Crohas' last name. Also, in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

(-αρχος), it's a suffix used in nouns indicating a person with power. The company's slogan has been updated from "Think Smaller" to "On The Go", and the current "Entertainment your way". Archos has developed a variety of products, including

digital audio player A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...

s, portable video players (PVP),

digital video recorder A digital video recorder (DVR) is an electronic device that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card, SSD or other local or networked mass storage device. The term includes set-top boxes with direct to d ...

s, a

personal digital assistant A personal digital assistant (PDA), also known as a handheld PC, is a variety mobile device which functions as a personal information manager. PDAs have been mostly displaced by the widespread adoption of highly capable smartphones, in partic ...

netbook Netbook was a commonly used term that identified a product class of small and inexpensive laptops which were sold from 2007 to around 2013. These machines were designed primarily as cost-effective tools for consumers to access the Inte ...

s, more recently

tablet computer A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being comput ...

s using

Google Android Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open-source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Android is developed by a consortium of de ...

and

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

(

tablet PC A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being comput ...

s), and

s (which are manufactured by

ZTE ZTE Corporation is a Chinese partially state-owned technology company that specializes in telecommunication. Founded in 1985, ZTE is listed on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges. ZTE's core business is wireless, exchange, optic ...

under the "Archos" brand name).

Success and decline

By the year 2000, Archos became an important player in the portable media player market and this was demonstrated by the groundbreaking year 2000 release of the very first disk-based digital audio player (DAP) called Jukebox 6000. This product paved the way for the high-capacity DAPs, which finally resulted in the wide adoption of digital and

MP3 player A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...

s. Archos' success during this period was attributed to its strategy of technological leadership, releasing different iterations of a product line, which featured a succession of products with better specifications and technology than their predecessors. In the latter part of the 2000s, Archos began to lose to Apple, which - for its part - introduced its own portable devices such as the iPod. This development highlighted a trend in the technology industry where beating competitors to the market and equipping products with the most advanced technology available do not always translate to success. The company started phasing its portable media players in 2008 to focus more on its Android tablet range. In 2013, the company entered the mobile phone market by launching a series of smartphone models for instance, Archos Cesium, Archos Diamond, Archos Titanium, Archos Platinum, Archos Neon, Archos Xenon, Archos Oxygen and Archos Helium.

Products

Handheld and portable computers with x86 compatible processors

Archos 9 PC Tablet

The Archos 9 PC Tablet is a 9" tablet computer launched October 22, 2009 and contains

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearly ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

Archos 133 PC 13.3" netbook

The Archos 133 PC is a notebook computer with a 13.3" screen. Intel Atom D510 Dual Core, 1 GB 667/800 MHz, Webcam, Windows 7.

Handheld computers with ARM compatible processors

Generation 7

Archos 5 Internet tablet

In September 2009 Archos announced the Archos 5 Internet tablet. Being an extension of the Archos 5, this

internet tablet A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being comput ...

uses Google's Android

mobile operating system A mobile operating system is an operating system for mobile phones, tablets, smartwatches, smartglasses, or other non-laptop personal mobile computing devices. While computers such as typical laptops are "mobile", the operating systems used on ...

. Specifications: *Processor based on ARM Cortex-A8, 32 bit, dual-issue, superscalar core @ 800 MHz 65 nm *256 MB of RAM *4.8" display, 800x480 resolution *Video playback *Music playback *Storage: 8 or 32 GB flash memory + microSD slot (SDHC compatible) or 160-500 GB with 2.5" hard drive (ext3 file-system) *Built in GPS *Bluetooth 2.0 *FM radio

Archos 7 home tablet series

The home tablet series includes tablets that utilizes Google's Android

. All versions: * 7" display, 800x480 resolution * Video Playback * Music Playback * WIFI 802.11g * Storage:

microSD Secure Digital, officially abbreviated as SD, is a proprietary non-volatile flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA) for use in portable devices. The standard was introduced in August 1999 by joint efforts between SanDis ...

slot support up to 32 GB cards

Archos 8 home tablet

The Archos 8 home tablet is a device that resembles a

digital photo frame A digital photo frame (also called a digital media frame) is a picture frame that displays digital photos without the need of a computer or printer. The introduction of digital photo frames predates tablet computers, which can serve the same p ...

but is actually a full featured computer system that comes with an 8" touch screen with a resolution of 800x600 pixels.

Generation 8

On August 31, 2010 Archos announced its eighth generation of tablets. The five tablets were supposed to be launched with Android 2.2 Froyo along with a hold-over release of the Archos 5 without its GPS. Froyo was not released until sometime around December, due to numerous delays with the Archos firmware development team.

Arnova series

Under the new brandname ''Arnova'', in 2011 Archos released a series of low cost Android tablets for the mass consumer market. They are priced at 100 Euro to 200 Euro (in the U.S. $99 to $199). Current models have resistive touch screens, and uses the RK2818

Rockchip Rockchip (Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics Co., Ltd.) is a Chinese fabless semiconductor company based in Fuzhou, Fujian province. Rockchip has been providing SoC products for tablets & PCs, streaming media TV boxes, AI audio & vision, IoT hardware s ...

SoC. All versions have Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g). All currently come with the AppsLib application store. The official

Android Market Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating sys ...

is not included out of box, but the Arnova devices may easily be rooted, and the Android Market is commonly installed by Arnova owners. * Arnova 7 (7" resistive screen, Android 2.2 tablet) * Arnova 8 (8" resistive screen, ARM9 600 MHz RK2818, Android 2.1 tablet) * Arnova 8.4 (8.4" resistive screen, Android 2.1 tablet) – configuration is aimed at those who wish to use their tablet primarily as an e-book reader. * Arnova 10 (10.1" resistive screen, ARM9 600 MHz RK2818, Android 2.1 tablet) There are also 2 new generation Arnovas in the market. The main changes are: ;G2 series 7 and 10: :OS: Android 2.3 :Soc: RockChip Rk2918 has Cortex A8 CPU runs at 1 GHz. :Memory: 512 MB DDR2. :Storage: 4-8 GB Extendable via micro SDHC Slot :Screen: 7" and 10" LCD screen 1024*600 (10 inch) and 800*480 (7 inch) :Touch interface: 2 point capactive multi-touch ;And the second version has also c prefix, specification are different from normal Arnova 7 G2 :OS: Android 2.3 :SoC: Qualcomm MSM7227 :Memory: 256-512? MB :Storage: None internal, shipped with 4 GB microSDHC :Built in GPS ( Normal version G2 does not have this option ) :Limited video and audio format support.

Generation 9

Archos announced in 2011 that it would release a $199 Honeycomb tablet. The G9 tablets are powered by the TI OMAP4 series of SoCs, using the 4430 and 4460 variants at 1 GHz, 1.2 GHz, or 1.5 GHz and are equipped with either 512 MB or 1 GB RAM. They have 8 GB or 16 GB of flash memory, and a microSDHC slot or a 250 GB hard drive. The earliest releases of these tablets utilized Android 3.0 and are upgradable to

Android 4.0.3 Android Ice Cream Sandwich (or Android 4.0) is the 9th major version of the Android mobile operating system developed by Google. Unveiled on October 19, 2011, Android 4.0 builds upon the significant changes made by the tablet-only release Androi ...

. All have official access to

Google Play Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android (operating sys ...

. Connectivity includes WiFi (802.11 b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, and

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...

and are upgradable to 3G using an Archos G9 3G stick.

Generation 10

Archos launched a new series of tablets, under the Name Gen 10 XS.

Digital camcorders, audio/video players and PDAs

Vision Line

Archos introduced their Vision line in 2009. *Archos 24 Vision The Archos 24 is a pocket size MP3 player. The Archos 24 vision is a stylish music player, with a 2.4" color screen for photos. The Archos 24 vision features 8 GB of storage, with room for up to 4,000 songs. It has a built-in FM radio. *Archos 3 Vision The Larger Archos 3 Vision sports a 3" touchscreen and can play back MP3, WMA, AVI, FLV and JPEG. It stores up to 4000 songs and dozens of movies. It has voice and FM radio recording functions and an FM transmitter which allows wireless streaming music from your Archos 3 Vision to an FM radio sources, such as car radios or home HiFi (available in 8 GB only). Technical specifications: *Internal storage: 8 GB* *Compatibility: Windows or Mac and Linux (with mass storage support) *Computer interface: USB 2.0 High Speed *Display: 3" Color LCD touch-screen – 400x240 pixels *Battery: 14 hours music, 4 hours video *Music Playback3: MP3, WMA (non protected files), WAV, OGG, FLAC *Photo Playback4: JPEG, BMP, GIF *Recorder: records from a microphone, or FM radio *Other applications: adjustable sound equalizer, multi-language Interface, stopwatch, calendar *Other file formats: reads text files (.TXT) & lyrics files (.LRC) *Physical dimensions: 95mm x 52mm x 9mm, Weight: 63 grams *Package includes: Archos 3 Media Player, USB Cable (for charging and file transfer), earphones and user manual *Features: clock, calendar, FM recording, lyrics display *Display: 3 in, color touchscreen *Video playback formats: RM, AVI, FLV, WMV, RMVB, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 *Archos 3cam Vision The Archos 3cam Vision is a media player with features similar to the 3 vision. It adds an integrated camera for recording video and taking pictures. *Archos 43 Vision Released on 3/5/2010, The Archos 43 Vision is a video media player with a 4.3" touch screen display, 8 GB of storage capacity and 30 hours of battery life. The Archos 43 Vision has very slim form factor, only 10 mm and weighing only 280 g. *Archos 18 Vision The Archos 18 Vision is an all-in-one affordable device, featuring a 1.8" color screen, black casing and 8 GB of storage. It also features an FM radio and voice recorder, as well as 12 hours of battery life. *Archos 15 Vision The Archos 15 Vision is quite thin (only 6 mm) and light (only 18 g) with highly responsive touch keys and the 1.5 color screen that make the Archos 15 Vision very easy to use. It combines the extreme portability with the 4 GB of storage and the FM radio.. *Archos 14 Vision The new Archos 14 Vision is an ultra portable MP3 player with 1.4" color screen. Thanks to its original and unusual small design form factor and extreme light weight, the Archos 14 fits into a jean pocket. With 4 GB of storage it accommodates 2,000 songs. *Archos 1 Vision Smaller than a credit card and lighter than a pack of gum, it has a playback time of over 20 hours and a very affordable price. It comes with 4 GB of storage space, and can display music lyrics and photos. *Archos 2 Vision The Archos 2 Vision is a credit card-sized device with a touch area for scrolling. It comes with 8 GB or 16 GB of storage space.

FamilyPad

Archos launched a 13.3" tablet in December 2012. Sold for €299, it was aggressively placed among the other large screen tablets (superior to 9.7"). Other 13.3" tablets : -Toshiba's Excite™ 13 Tablet : discontinued In March 2013, it was quickly followed by the Familypad 2, with an improved dual core Cortex-A9 at 1.6 GHz and quadruple GPU Mali 400 (compared to the former mono Cortex-A8 at 1 GHz of the Familypad 1). Technical specifications (for the Familypad 2) : *Display: 13.3": 1280 x 800 pixels *Application Framework: Android 4.1, "Jelly Bean" *Processor: Dual-core A9 @ 1.6 GHz and Quad-core GPU Mali 400 MP4 *Capacity: 8GB + micro SD (compatible with cards up to 64GB) *RAM: 1GB *Battery life : Video playback time: 10h / Standby: 6 days *Dimensions / weight: • 337 mm x 230 mm x 11.6 mm (13.3'' x 9.0'' x 0.45'') / 1.3 kg (2.86 pounds)

Elements Series

In 2013 Archos introduced their Elements series which include Cobalt, Xenon, Carbon, Titanium, and recently the Platinum tablet line-ups. Archos has mostly been pushing to publicize the Titanium & Platinum series which they announced at CES 2013. In announcing their Titanium & Platinum series, Archos stated that each of the tablet models were made to compete against another major tablet range in the market, but at a lower price: *70 Titanium –

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

*80 Titanium & Platinum –

iPad mini The iPad Mini (branded and marketed as iPad mini) is a line of mini tablet computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. It is a sub-series of the iPad line of tablets, with screen sizes of 7.9 inches and 8.3 inches. The first-g ...

*97 Titanium & Platinum –

iPad 3 The iPad (3rd generation) (marketed as The new iPad, colloquially referred to as the iPad 3) is a tablet computer, developed and marketed by Apple Inc. The third device in the iPad line of tablets, it added a Retina Display, the new Apple A5X ch ...

and

iPad (4th generation) The iPad (4th generation) (marketed as iPad with Retina display, colloquially referred to as the iPad 4) is a tablet computer produced and marketed by Apple Inc. Compared to its predecessor, the third-generation iPad, the fourth-generation ...

Past products

Former Archos products since discontinued include ranges of

handheld A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physical ...

and

portable computer A portable computer is a computer designed to be easily moved from one place to another and included a display and keyboard together, with a single plug, much like later desktop computers called '' all-in-ones'' (AIO), that integrate the sy ...

digital camcorder A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video camera, video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right s ...

audiovisual Audiovisual (AV) is electronic media possessing both a sound and a visual component, such as slide-tape presentations, films, television programs, corporate conferencing, church services, and live theater productions. Audiovisual service prov ...

playback equipment,

portable storage device A portable storage device (PSD) is a compact plug-and-play mass storage device designed to hold a large volume of digital data of ''any'' kind. This is slightly different from a portable media player, which is designed to only store music and vi ...

s, and peripherals for the

Commodore Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

line.

Partnerships

Content portals

Released along with the Generation 5 and Archos TV+ devices in 2007, the Archos Content Portal (ACP) provides video on demand purchase or rental directly to the internet enabled devices. However, there is no PC based software for the service such as

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

. A major difference from similar services is that given "portals" are serviced by different distributors, such as

CinemaNow CinemaNow was an international over-the-top (OTT) provider of on-demand, Internet streaming media available to viewers in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1999 and was headquartered in Los Angeles, Cal ...

in North America. Archos has numerous ACP partners worldwide but they vary by region.

MoovyPlay

In the summer of 2007 French-based Cinebank announced MoovyPlay. The device runs on a

kiosk Historically, a kiosk () was a small garden pavilion open on some or all sides common in Iran, Persia, the Indian subcontinent, and in the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century onward. Today, several examples of this type of kiosk still exist ...

to harddrive rental service with Archos building the 40GB player. The Drive attaches to a Dock similar to those seen in Archos players and connects to a Video Display. The device was launched in France on December 10, 2007 with initial success.

PocketDish

DISH Network Corporation DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV. A ...

, which owns 19% of Archos since 2005, sold Archos PVPs under the PocketDish brand. There were three versions, the AV700E (AV700), AV500 (AV500), and the AV402E (Gmini 402). While the original products are no longer available, on December 18, 2007 Dish Network released info on a new similar deal with the current generation 605 and 705 Wi-Fi, allowing high speed transfers to the devices from their current HD receivers. Unlike with the original PocketDish, the products will not be sold a Dish rebranding, instead the software plug-in was made available for free for the two products. They are expected to be sold alongside Dish products in January. In 2008 Dish Network's PocketDish page was updated to show the new service and products.

American Airlines

In May 2007,

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

revealed plans of offering modified Archos 604 and 704s to first-class passengers for entertainment during their flight.

Opera

Opera Software Opera is a Norwegian multinational technology company and subsidiary of Kunlun that specializes in web browser development, fintech, as well as services such as Opera News and YoYo Games. The company's total user base, including users of its d ...

has provided the web browser for Archos devices since the PMA400. They are a version of

Opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

for devices similar to that seen on the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

video game console and the

Nokia N800 The Nokia N800 Internet tablet is a wireless Internet appliance from Nokia, originally announced at the Las Vegas CES 2007 Summit in January 2007. N800 allows the user to browse the Internet and communicate using Wi-Fi networks or with mobile ...

Internet appliance. On Generation 5 devices

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia Computing platform, software platform used for production of Flash animation, animations, rich web applications, application software, desktop applications, mobile apps, mo ...

support was added. An update to full Flash 9 support was announced in April 2008 from the current Flash 7.

SFR

In late 2007,

SFR SFR (; ''Société française du radiotéléphone'', ) is a French telecommunications company. As of December 2015, it had 21.9 million customers in Metropolitan France for mobile services, and provided 6.35 million households with high-spee ...

, a French mobile phone company, announced to be building a new device with Archos that utilizes 3G communication. It was revealed to be the Archos 5g. The Archos 5g is currently available for a discounted price through SFR for a service contract.

Blockbuster

A similar deal to the one with Cinebank was announced with

Blockbuster Inc. Blockbuster LLC, formerly known as Blockbuster Video, was an American-based provider of home video and video game rental services. Services were offered primarily at video rental shops, but later alternatives included DVD-by-mail, streaming med ...

in 2008. The specifics were revealed and Blockbuster hinted that the service will not be Archos exclusive.

Latest products

In 2018, Archos introduced a slew of products to the market. The most notable of these involved the product unveiled in February, which was the very first Android-powered scooter called Citee Connect. Several weeks later, the company announced the Archos Hello, which is touted as an A.I.-powered smart display to challenge the likes of

Amazon Echo Amazon Echo, often shortened to Echo, is an American brand of smart speakers developed by Amazon. Echo devices connect to the voice-controlled intelligent personal assistant service ''Alexa'', which will respond when a user says "Alexa". Users m ...

. The Saphir 50X joined these gadgets in April 2018. This new release was an update to the Archos 50 Saphir, the tech company's rugged phone brand. Archos announced the launch of the X67 5G smartphone in 2021. The manufacturer is offering this mobile device with 6.67 inches display, Mediatek Dimensity 800 MT6873 chipset, 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage.

Perspectives of the Group

Faced with increased competition from China, Archos has decided since 2019 to make a profound change in its economic model. It is now deploying its strategy and its organization in the professions of the future, where services and innovation are at the heart of the activity.

References

External links

* {{authority control Mobile phone manufacturers Computer hardware companies Telecommunications companies of France Multinational companies headquartered in France Portable audio player manufacturers Digital audio players Portable media players Audio equipment manufacturers of France French brands Consumer electronics brands Companies based in Paris-Saclay Companies listed on Euronext Paris Computer companies of France