FAQs
1. About the Company
- How did you arrive at the name gWacom?h
- What are the names of your Group companies?
- Where are your branch offices and factories located?
- Who is the current president of the Company? Please provide a personal history.
2. Scope of business
- What is a pen tablet?
- What is the electromagnetic induction method?
- What are the features and strengths of your Company?
- What is your market share? How has the share changed, and why?
3. Business policies and strategies
- Please describe the business philosophy of your Company.
- What areas does your Company intend to concentrate on? In which business areas does your Company expect growth?
1. About the Company
How did you arrive at the name "Wacom?"
The name gWacomh was derived by partially replacing the English name WORLD COMPUTER with gWA,h a Japanese word meaning gharmony.h The name was provided to express our goal of attaining development in which people and computers are in harmony.
What are the names of your Group companies?
Our overseas subsidiaries include:
Wacom Technology Corporation (U.S.);
Wacom Europe GmbH (Germany);
Wacom China Corporation (China);
Wacom Korea Co., Ltd. (Korea);
Wacom Components Europe Ltd.(U.K.);
Wacom Australia Pty. Ltd. (Australia) and
Wacom Singapore Pte. Ltd. (Singapore)
Where are your branch offices and factories located?
Our Tokyo Branch Office is located in Honcho, Nakano-ku, Tokyo, and we have operation offices in Sapporo, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka.
Our factory is located on the site of our head office in Saitama, and we have several contract production bases located overseas.
Who is the current president of the Company? Please provide a personal history.
His Biography is shown below.
Masahiko Yamada ( Born March 31, 1958 ) |
|
[ Biography ] |
|
March 1986 |
Graduated from Tohoku University, Faculty of Engineering |
March 1986 |
Joined Wacom Co., Ltd. as a staff at Oversea Sales Dep. |
April 1991 |
General Manager , Oversea Sales Division |
April 1992 |
President , Wacom Technology Corporation. (U.S.A.) |
April 1996 |
Division Manager, Electronic Systems and Devices (ESD) Division |
June 1996 |
Director |
April 1999 |
Executive Director |
April 2000 |
Company President of ESD Company |
June 2003 |
Executive Director, Senior Executive Officer, Company President of ESD Company |
April 2004 |
Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer |
June 2004 |
President, Chief Executive Officer |
2. Scope of business
What is a pen tablet?
A pen tablet is an input device (like a keyboard and mouse) used with computers, and is made of a special electronic pen and tablet (a plate).
An electronic pen functions on a tablet in the same way as a mouse, in addition to allowing freehand drawings, diagrams and characters to be input.
What is the electromagnetic induction method?
This method refers to the patented pen input and tablet technology, the only one of its kind in the world which enables battery-free and cordless input operation.
(Mechanism) The tablet forms a magnetic field on its surface (electromagnetic field), in which the electronic pen moves. When it moves, electricity runs through the coil inside the pen. The tablet then receives inductive signals generated by the magnetic field formed on the pen side (induction). By repeating the process a number of times in a short time, the pen's paths are smoothly read by the tablet. The electronic pen is capable of detecting the force exerted on it and the tilted angle, thereby enabling differences in line widths and color gradation to be displayed. Another notable feature is that an eraser can be added to the pen.
What are the features and strengths of your Company?
- A strong technological capability is one. Our Company has obtained numerous patents, including a patent for the core technology achieved for the first time in the world.
- Being a brand with the world's leading share for tablets and the top domestic share for electric CAD is another.Many PC manufacturers have adopted our sensor, which incorporates the pen-sensor technology used in the Tablet PC launched last year.
- Global business development is yet another. Optimum research, development and sales organizations have been established at different parts of the world.
What is your market share? How has the share changed, and why?
The domestic share in the industry has reached 97.9%. (Survey by BCN Research Institute in 2007)
The estimated overseas share is 86%.
3. Business policies and strategies
Please describe the business philosophy of your Company.
Our Company motto is gHarmonious development between people and technology.h
We have consistently probed state-of-the-art technologies to develop people-friendly computer technologies.
What areas does your Company intend to concentrate on? In which business areas does your Company expect growth?
We believe that the component supply (parts supply) business for pens & sensors, which is our fundamental technology, is likely to expand.
The applications for the technologies have expanded to include mobile information terminals, systems equipment and toys being manufactured in a number of different parts of the world, in addition to PCs.
For more information about our components business, please visit www.wacom-components.com.
www.wacom-components.com
