IGB Eletrônica S.A. (
Portuguese for ''IGB Electronics''), doing business as Gradiente, is a Brazilian
consumer electronics
Consumer electronics, also known as home electronics, are electronic devices intended for everyday household use. Consumer electronics include those used for entertainment, Communication, communications, and recreation. Historically, these prod ...
company based in
Manaus
Manaus () is the List of capitals of subdivisions of Brazil, capital and largest city of the States of Brazil, Brazilian state of Amazonas (Brazilian state), Amazonas. It is the List of largest cities in Brazil, seventh-largest city in Brazil, w ...
, and with offices in
São Paulo
São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...
. 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. Between 1985 and 1990 they sold the
Gradiente Expert line of
MSX compatible home computers.
In 1993 they founded
Playtronic, a fully owned subsidiary who licensed the manufacturing of
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles.
The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
consoles in Brazil, and while publishing games for various systems they also provided
Portuguese translations of some games (among them, ''
South Park
''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...
'' and ''
Shadow Man'' for the
Nintendo 64
The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...
). 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 risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...
with Finland-based telecommunications manufacturing firm
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, originally established as a pulp mill in 1 ...
, where they were granted the license to manufacture variants of Nokia mobile phones locally under the Nokia and Gradiente brand names.
iPhone trademark conflict
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). Gradiente first used the iPhone brand on a licence-built variant of the
Nokia 7160,
but it wasn't until 2008 when the Brazilian government granted full brand ownership for Gradiente, and the company has since sold
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. Phonographs can also spec ...
*
Gradiente Expert
References
External links
*
Audio equipment manufacturers of Brazil
Computer hardware companies
Computer systems companies
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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