Gemini Industries, Inc., was an American consumer electronics manufacturer based in

Clifton, New Jersey Clifton is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Criss-crossed by several major highways, the city is a regional commercial hub for North Jersey and is a bedroom suburb of New York City in the New York Metropolitan Area. As ...

, and active from 1964 to 2004. The company began as a small metal fabrication firm, producing mostly consumer television antenna rotators before branching out to various other consumer electronics in the 1980s, eventually becoming a multi-million dollar player in the industry. In 1994, with the purchase of PC Accessories, Inc., of

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

, the company began offering

peripheral A peripheral or peripheral device is an auxiliary device used to put information into and get information out of a computer. The term ''peripheral device'' refers to all hardware components that are attached to a computer and are controlled by the ...

s for personal computers. In 2004, the company was purchased by

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

and restructured as an American division of their Dutch parent company, Philips Accessories and Computer Peripherals North America.

History

Gemini Industries, Inc., was primarily founded by Sandor "Sandy" Garfinkle ( 1937 – January 26, 2004) in

, in 1964 as small metal fabrication firm. The company's most popular commodity in its early days was consumer antenna rotators for television sets. In the first couple decades of their existence, the company also produced residential mailboxes. In 1985, the founders sold the company to

Wesray Capital Wesray Capital Corporation was an early private equity firm focusing on leveraged buyout investments. The firm was founded by former US Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon and former New Jersey Nets owner Ray Chambers. The firm is known ...

in a leveraged buyout, who in turn Gemini to a branch of

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...

in 1988. Garfinkle all the while stayed on board as president of the company. Rabbit VCR Multiplying System logo

In the late 1980s, the company began selling the VideoCaster, a consumer television transmitter intended to allow households to receive the output of a

videocassette recorder A videocassette recorder (VCR) or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other source on a removable, magnetic tape videocassette Videotape is magnetic tape ...

(VCRs) from any television set in the house without having to buy additional VCRs, a somewhat costly proposition at the time. In 1990, Gemini acquired Rabbit Systems, Inc., a company founded in 1984 that was the progenitor of this type of VCR transmitter product with the release of the Rabbit VCR Multiplying System in 1986. Advantageous to Rabbit's system was the ability of its transmitter to repeat the infrared signals coming from the VCR's remote. In December 1993, Gemini established a telecommunications unit of the company, dedicated to developing and contracting the manufacture of accessories for cellular phones under their Gemini and Axiom brands. These accessories included aftermarket antennas, carrying cases, power cords, battery packs, chargers, and savers, and phone mounts. PC Accessories logo

In 1994, the company acquired PC Accessories, Inc., of

, a manufacturer of

s for personal computers. Under ownership of Gemini, PC Accessories developed

trackball A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball held by a socket containing sensors to detect a rotation of the ball about two axes—like an upside-down ball mouse with an exposed protruding ball. Users roll the ball to position the on-s ...

ergonomic keyboard An ergonomic keyboard is a computer keyboard designed with ergonomic considerations to minimize muscle strain, fatigue, and other problems. Features The common QWERTY keyboard layout is credited to the mechanical typewriter designed by C. Latham ...

s, headphones, floppy disks, and

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

cases and containers, among others. In 1995, Gemini became the first licensee of the Magnavox name, after both

and Southwestern Bell (rightsholders to the Magnavox name) agreed to sign a contract with Gemini to license the name for a line of consumer electronics in the United States. Gemini was acquired again in 2000 by York Management Services of Somerset, New Jersey. Garfinkle was deposed as president, replaced by Michael O'Neal, who was also named

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

. Under O'Neal's leadership, Gemini acquired all of the remaining assets of Zenith Accessories, the parts and supplies arm of

Zenith Electronics Zenith Electronics, LLC, is an American research and development company that develops ATSC and digital rights management technologies. It is owned by the South Korean company LG Electronics. Zenith was previously an American brand of consumer el ...

, in 2001, and planned to acquire the recently bankrupted Recoton around the same time before losing their bid to Thomson SARL in 2003. Gemini reported annual sales of $200 million and employment numbers of 500 in 2003. In July 2004, Philips announced its intention to acquire Gemini Industries for an undisclosed sum, later revealed to be roughly $67 million in cash and assumption of debts.

References

External links

* {{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/19981205235747/http://www2.gemini-usa.com/, title=Official website, date=December 5, 1998 Philips 1964 establishments in New Jersey 2004 disestablishments in New Jersey 2004 mergers and acquisitions American companies established in 1964 American companies disestablished in 2004 Computer companies established in 1964 Computer companies disestablished in 2004 Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies Defunct manufacturing companies based in New Jersey Defunct manufacturing companies of the United States Electronics companies established in 1964 Electronics companies disestablished in 2004 Telecommunications companies disestablished in 2004 Video equipment manufacturers Clifton, New Jersey