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Vaio
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Vaio
VAIO Corporation (VAIO 株式会社, Baio Kabushiki Kaisha; English: /ˈvaɪ.oʊ/) is a Japanese personal computer manufacturer headquartered in Azumino, Nagano Prefecture. It is owned by Nojima Corporation.
Vaio began as a brand of Sony, introduced in 1996, until it offloaded it into an independent company in 2014, with Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) purchasing the Vaio business while Sony maintained a minority stake. Sony still holds the intellectual property rights for the VAIO brand and logo. JIP sold Vaio Corporation to Japanese retailer Nojima in 2025.
Originally an acronym of Video Audio Input Output, later amended to Video Audio Integrated Operation, and later to Visual Audio Intelligent Organizer in 2008 to celebrate the brand's 10th anniversary. The logo, along with the first of the VAIO computers, were designed by Teiyu Goto, supervisor of product design from the Sony Creative Center in Tokyo. He incorporated many meanings into the logo and acronym: the pronunciation in both English (VAIO) and Japanese (バイオ) sounds similar to "bio", which is symbolic of life and the product's future evolution. The name is also alphabetically close to "violet", which is why most early Vaio products were purple or included purple components. Additionally, the logo is stylized to make the "VA" look like a sine wave and the "IO" like binary digits 1 and 0, the combination representing the merging of analog and digital signals. The sound some Vaio models make during startup is derived from the melody created when pressing a telephone keypad to spell the letters V-A-I-O.
As of 2023, Vaio is operational in the following countries:
Although Sony made computers in the 1980s, such as MSX-based HitBit computers mainly for the Japanese market, the company withdrew from the computer business around the beginning of the 1990s. Under the then-new VAIO brand, Sony's re-entry into the global computer market began in 1996. Sony's then-president Nobuyuki Idei thought "there was no point making an ordinary PC", so the VAIO lineup was to focus on Audio Visual (as the VAIO name suggests), portability, and design.
The PCV-90 was the first series of desktops introduced in 1996, and designed with a 3D graphical interface as a novelty for new users. The first VAIO laptop computers followed in 1997 with the US$2,000 PCG-505 "SuperSlim" model, constructed out of a four-panel magnesium body. VisualFlow was a Sony program distributed in the late 1990s and early 2000s with Sony VAIO computers.
Over the years, many audio visual technologies and interfaces pioneered by Sony became a key focus for its VAIO computers, including Memory Stick, i.Link, and even MiniDisc.
In 2001, Steve Jobs presented a VAIO PC running Mac OS to Sony executives, suggesting the possibility of collaboration. Sony's VAIO team ultimately turned down the proposal they regarded a "diversion of resources", as the popularity of the Windows-based premium PC brand was growing.
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Vaio
VAIO Corporation (VAIO 株式会社, Baio Kabushiki Kaisha; English: /ˈvaɪ.oʊ/) is a Japanese personal computer manufacturer headquartered in Azumino, Nagano Prefecture. It is owned by Nojima Corporation.
Vaio began as a brand of Sony, introduced in 1996, until it offloaded it into an independent company in 2014, with Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) purchasing the Vaio business while Sony maintained a minority stake. Sony still holds the intellectual property rights for the VAIO brand and logo. JIP sold Vaio Corporation to Japanese retailer Nojima in 2025.
Originally an acronym of Video Audio Input Output, later amended to Video Audio Integrated Operation, and later to Visual Audio Intelligent Organizer in 2008 to celebrate the brand's 10th anniversary. The logo, along with the first of the VAIO computers, were designed by Teiyu Goto, supervisor of product design from the Sony Creative Center in Tokyo. He incorporated many meanings into the logo and acronym: the pronunciation in both English (VAIO) and Japanese (バイオ) sounds similar to "bio", which is symbolic of life and the product's future evolution. The name is also alphabetically close to "violet", which is why most early Vaio products were purple or included purple components. Additionally, the logo is stylized to make the "VA" look like a sine wave and the "IO" like binary digits 1 and 0, the combination representing the merging of analog and digital signals. The sound some Vaio models make during startup is derived from the melody created when pressing a telephone keypad to spell the letters V-A-I-O.
As of 2023, Vaio is operational in the following countries:
Although Sony made computers in the 1980s, such as MSX-based HitBit computers mainly for the Japanese market, the company withdrew from the computer business around the beginning of the 1990s. Under the then-new VAIO brand, Sony's re-entry into the global computer market began in 1996. Sony's then-president Nobuyuki Idei thought "there was no point making an ordinary PC", so the VAIO lineup was to focus on Audio Visual (as the VAIO name suggests), portability, and design.
The PCV-90 was the first series of desktops introduced in 1996, and designed with a 3D graphical interface as a novelty for new users. The first VAIO laptop computers followed in 1997 with the US$2,000 PCG-505 "SuperSlim" model, constructed out of a four-panel magnesium body. VisualFlow was a Sony program distributed in the late 1990s and early 2000s with Sony VAIO computers.
Over the years, many audio visual technologies and interfaces pioneered by Sony became a key focus for its VAIO computers, including Memory Stick, i.Link, and even MiniDisc.
In 2001, Steve Jobs presented a VAIO PC running Mac OS to Sony executives, suggesting the possibility of collaboration. Sony's VAIO team ultimately turned down the proposal they regarded a "diversion of resources", as the popularity of the Windows-based premium PC brand was growing.