IGB Eletrônica S.A. (
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
for ''IGB Electronics''), doing business as Gradiente, is a Brazilian
consumer electronics
Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic ( analog or digital) equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes. Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment, communications and recreation. Usuall ...
company based in
Manaus, and with offices in
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
. The company designs and markets many product lines, including video (e.g. televisions, DVD players), audio, home theater, high end acoustics, office and mobile stereo, wireless, mobile/smart phones, and tablets for the Brazilian market.
History
The company was founded in 1964. In 1993 they founded
Playtronic
Playtronic Industrial Ltda. is a Brazilian video game company. Its original iteration was also a toy manufacturer and was based in Manaus, Brazil, and was a joint venture between companies Gradiente Industrial S.A. (consumer electronics compa ...
, a fully owned subsidiary who licensed the manufacturing of
Nintendo consoles in Brazil, and while publishing games for various systems they also provided
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
translations of some games (among them, ''
South Park'' and ''
Shadow Man'' for the
Nintendo 64
The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and ...
). However, they stopped the partnership with Nintendo in 2003 because of the high price of the dollar at the time.
In 1997, Gradiente established a
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...
with Finland-based telecommunications manufacturing firm
Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...
, where they were granted the license to manufacture variants of Nokia mobile phones locally under the Nokia and Gradiente brand names.
The Gradiente iPhone case
In 2000, Gradiente, now legally known as IGB Eletrônica SA, filed for the brand name "iphone" in Brazil's INPI (National Institute of Industrial Property, the trademark authority). Only by 2008 the Brazilian government granted full brand ownership for Gradiente, and currently (since January 2012), the company is selling
Android-based smartphones under this name. Until 2008 that trademark is fully owned by IGB Eletrônica SA, which released its Android-powered ''iphone neo one'' under the Gradiente brand. The ''iphone neo one'' is sold for
R$ 599 (about US$287), a dual-SIM handset running Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread. It has a 3.7-inch, 320 x 480 display, a 700 MHz CPU, 2GB of expandable storage, Bluetooth, 3G, WiFi and 5 / 0.3-megapixel camera.
See also
*
List of phonograph manufacturers
This is a list of phonograph manufacturers. The phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone, record player or turntable, is a device introduced in 1877 for the mechanical recording and reproduction of sound.
Phonograph manufacturer ...
References
External links
*
Audio equipment manufacturers of Brazil
Mobile phone manufacturers
Phonograph manufacturers
Multinational companies headquartered in Brazil
Electronics companies established in 1964
1964 establishments in Brazil
Companies listed on B3 (stock exchange)
Brazilian brands
Mobile phone companies of Brazil
Electronics companies of Brazil
Organisations based in Manaus
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