Sony : History of the Company.

http://www.sony.co.uk/article/id/1060176719725

"Originally called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Company), Sony’s roots go back over half a century to 1946 when it was founded by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita."

The first invention from the Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (TTK) company was the electric rice cooker which is still widely used today. After finding success in Japan the company knew they would need to expand and begin trading globally. The name TTK was already used so the company changed their name to Sony in order to appeal more to a worldwide market. Sony comes from the Latin word Sonus meaning sound and is also said to derive from the American phrase 'Sonny boy'. It was also chosen because it's a word that sounds the same and is pronounceable in every language.
Although the name of the company was not officially changed until 1958 the very first 'Sony' branded product was the TR-55 transistor radio. This went on sale in 1955 and was followed shortly by a 'pocket sized' transistor radio.

Sony's success and growth as a company continued in the 60's with the formation of the Sony Corporation of America (SONAM) Sony became the first Japanese company to offer shares in the USA. The decade also saw the company develop the world's first direct view portable TV.

The 70's were also important for Sony in terms of invention. They saw the invention of the Betamax and the Walkman arguably two of Sony's most important inventions. The Walkman especially was a massive hit and was revolutionary in terms of personal entertainment, for the first time ever people were able to take music with them and carry it wherever they went. To this day the Walkman brand still exists in Sony brand mobile phones.

Here are some examples of Walkman branded products from over the years. The Walkman and Betamax really propelled Sony into a household name company all over the world. Sony's innovation as a company has seen them produce a lot of ground breaking products and their passion for creating something new and efficient was the reason for them becoming such a successful company. 

"Sony innovations have become part of mainstream culture, including: the first magnetic tape and tape recorder in 1950; the transistor radio in 1955; the world’s first all-transistor TV set in 1960; the world’s first color video cassette recorder in 1971; the Walkman personal stereo in 1979; the Compact Disc (CD) in 1982; the first 8mm camcorder in 1985; the MiniDisc (MD) player in 1992; the PlayStation game system in 1995; Digital Mavica camera in 1997; Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) player in 1998; and the Network Walkman digital music player in 1999."

https://news.sel.sony.com/en/corporate_information/sony_brand

Sony also branched out from electronics with the Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Mobile Communications (Formally Sony Ericsson)