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| Logitech |
Logitech International S.A. is a global provider of personal peripherals for computers and other digital platforms headquartered in Romanel-sur-Morges, Switzerland. The company develops and markets products like peripheral devices for PCs, including keyboards, mice, microphones, game controllers and webcams. Logitech also makes home and computer speakers, headphones, wireless audio devices, as well as audio devices for MP3 players and mobile phones.
In addition to its Swiss headquarters, the company has offices in Fremont, California, as well as throughout Europe, Asia and the rest of Americas. Logitech's sales and marketing activities are organized into four geographic regions: Americas, EMEA, Asia Pacific and China.
In the Japanese market, Logitech uses the brand name Logicool since a company known as Logitec that focuses on computer peripheral devices has existed in that country since 1982, and its parent company, Elecom, has used the brand name since 1974. Similar-sounding trademarks in the same industry can be infringing; Logitech chose to avoid this situation.
In the UK, Logitech trades under 'Logi (UK) Ltd'; a 'Logitech' based in Glasgow, Scotland manufactures precision cutting, lapping and polishing equipment for the materials processing industry. In Canada, Logitech International uses its own name without conflict with Logitech Electronics, an InterTAN Canada Ltd. supplier of consumer electronics since 1988.
Since the 1980s, Logitech has made computer mice and keyboards directly for Apple, HP, Dell and for other platforms including PlayStation.
Logitech International S.A. was co-founded in Apples, Vaud, Switzerland, in 1981 by two Stanford Masters alumni, Daniel Borel and Pierluigi Zappacosta, and Giacomo Marini, formerly a manager at Olivetti.
The mass-marketed computer mouse was the product that made Logitech well-known. The range of products offered improvements over a product originally developed at LAMI (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) by professor Jean-Daniel Nicoud and engineer André Guignard, who was involved in the design changes of the computer mouse originally invented by Douglas Engelbart.
For a time during its formative years, Logitech's Silicon Valley offices occupied space at 165 University Avenue, Palo Alto, California, home to a number of noted technology startups.
From there, Logitech expanded its product line (see below) to encompass many mass market computer peripherals and beyond (such as the "Harmony" range of programmable universal remote controls).
The first Logitech mice were made in Le Lieu, in the Swiss Canton of Vaud by Dubois Depraz SA.
Production facilities were then established in the US, Taiwan, Ireland and moved subsequently to Suzhou, China. As of 2005, the manufacturing operations in China produce approximately half of Logitech's products. The remaining production is outsourced to contract manufacturers and original design manufacturers in Asia.