IGB Eletrônica
IGB Eletrônica S.A. (Portuguese for IGB Electronics), doing business as Gradiente, is a Brazilian consumer electronics company based in Manaus, and with offices in São Paulo. 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.[1]
Type | Sociedade Anônima |
---|---|
B3: IGBR3 | |
Industry | Electronics |
Founded | 1964 |
Headquarters | Manaus, Brazil |
Key people | Eugênio Emílio Staub, (CEO) |
Products | televisions, flat panels, LCDs, plasma display, DVDs, hi-fi, home theater, portable audio, mobile phone, karaoke machines |
Revenue | US$ 588.2 million (2012) |
US$ 86.2 million (2012) | |
Number of employees | 18,400 |
Website | www www |
History
The company was founded in 1964. In 1993 they founded Playtronic, a fully owned subsidiary who licensed the manufacturing of Nintendo consoles in Brazil,[2] and while publishing games for various systems they also provided Portuguese translations of some games (among them, South Park and Shadow Man for the Nintendo 64). 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 with Finland-based telecommunications manufacturing firm Nokia, where they were granted the license to manufacture variants of Nokia mobile phones locally under the Nokia and Gradiente brand names.[3]
The Gradiente iPhone case
In 2000, Gradiente, now legally known as IGB Eletrônica SA,[4] filed for the brand name "iphone" in Brazil's INPI (National Institute of Industrial Property, the trademark authority).[5] 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.[6] Until 2008 that trademark is fully owned by IGB Eletrônica SA, which released its Android-powered iphone neo one under the Gradiente brand.[7][8][9] 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.[10] [11]
References
- "Loja Gradiente: Tablet, Smartphones, Cellures e Eletrônicos".
- "Latin America's New Cultural Industries Still Play Old Games". Game Studies. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
- "Nokia acquired Gradiente's share in Brazilian manufacturing joint venture NGI". Retrieved 2021-01-21.
- "IGB". Igbeletronica.com. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
- "Portal INPI". Inpi.gov.br. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
- "Smartphone Gradiente Neo One GC 500 SF, Dual Chip, Android 2.3.4, 3G". Gradiente. 2012-08-24. Archived from the original on 2013-03-16. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
- "Telecom Consultant Thinks Apple Will Buy Brazil iPhone Trademark". The Mac Observer. 2012-12-27. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
- "Gradiente website with their iphone". Gradiente.com.br. 2012-08-24. Archived from the original on 2012-12-30. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
- "Brazilian Company Launches Android-Powered 'IPHONE'". The Mac Observer. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
- Nelson, Randy (2012-12-18). "Brazil's new 'iphone' isn't what you think | TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog". TUAW. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
- "Vídeo: Gradiente é dona da marca iPhone no Brasil". Admr.com.br. 2013-02-13. Retrieved 2013-03-15.