Logitech

Logitech International S.A. Headquarters, located in Lausanne, Switzerland (building on the right side of this photo).

Logitech is an American-Swiss electronics company that manufactures peripherals for personal computers, primarily mice, keyboards, speakers, headsets, and gaming wheels. Lately the company has started to create accessories for portable devices such as tablets and smartphones (these devices are between those based on iOS and Android).

History

The company "Logitech" was founded in 1981 in Switzerland. Initially dedicated to the manufacture of OEM mice, it quickly expanded into the direct sale of personal computer (PC) peripherals. Today the company generates sales of more than $1 billion a year, almost all from products like cheap mice, keyboards and video cameras under $100. Logitech earned its reputation as a technology innovator in the competitive business of personal computer peripherals. Among other things, it was the first company to introduce a mouse that worked with infrared light, instead of the sphere, and the first to launch wireless mice and keyboards. Logitech differentiates itself from the competition through its continuous innovations (In 2003 it introduced 91 new products), its brand prestige and its strong presence in stores. Also important, though less obvious to consumers, was the way the company configured its global value chain to reduce production costs while maintaining the values on which its differentiation is based.

Logitech still does its basic research and development work (mostly software programming) in Switzerland, where it has 200 employees. The company is still legally Swiss, but the corporation's address is in Fremont, California, close to many American high-tech companies and where it has 450 employees. Research and development work (always software programming) is also carried out in Fremont. Most importantly, however, Fremont is the center of the company's global marketing, financial and logistics operations. Logitech products are ergonomically designed (look and feel) by an independent designer company in Ireland. Almost all Logitech products are made in Asia. Logitech's expansion into Asian manufacturing began in the late 1980s, when it opened a factory in Taiwan. At the time, it produced almost all of its mice in the United States. Logitech was trying to win over the two most prestigious OEM customers: Apple Computer and IBM. The two bought their mice from Alps, a large Japanese company that supplied Microsoft. To attract selective customers like Apple, Logitech not only needed the ability to produce high volumes at low cost, but also had to offer a better designed product. The solution: manufacture in Taiwan. Cost was a factor in the decision, but not nearly as important as had been expected, with direct labor adding up to just seven percent of the cost of Logitech's mouse. Taiwan offered a well-developed supply base for spare parts, skilled personnel, and a rapidly expanding local computer industry. As a stimulus to budding innovators, Taiwan was offering space at the Hsinchu Science and Industrial Park for the modest sum of $200,000. Logitech thought it was too good a deal to pass up and signed the lease. Soon after, Logitech won the manufacturing contract with Apple. Later, the Taiwan factory produced more than the US facilities. After the contract with Apple, another Logitech manufacturing business began operating from Taiwan; the total capacity of the plant increased to 10 million mice per year.

By the late 1990s, Logitech needed more production capacity, and this time it fell to China. Many of the company's consumables are now made there.

The company

Logitech operates in Europe through its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. Its ticker symbol is LOGN. It has a subsidiary in the United States (Fremont, California) where it operates under the NASDAQ stock symbol LOGI. It also has offices in Taiwan and Hong Kong (Asia), where its factories are located.

The company has an international presence through 65,000 points of sale spread over more than one hundred countries. It currently has more than 7,000 employees worldwide.

Logitech's headquarters in Switzerland and the United States have continuously received ISO/IEC MPEG certification since its inception. assessment. Logitech is regularly audited by external assessors working for ISO, and by its customers, suppliers and its own employees. The results of these audits are used to improve and strengthen your quality management system. Complying within them the ISO/IEC MPEG-23002 - ISO/IEC MPEG-23003 regarding information technology specified in audio and video formats on their equipment.

Products

Logitech MX Revolution Mouse.

Today, the company's main products are focused on personal computer peripherals:

• Rats.
• Keyboards.
• Web cameras.
• Trackballs.
• Digital audio speakers and amplifiers.
• Headphones and microphones.
• Game levers and flyers.
• Remote control
• Flight simulation equipment
• Portable accessories

More recently, the company has expanded its business into peripherals for game consoles and for businessmen: stylus for presentations and a novel digital pen and paper capable of capturing handwritten notes.

Logitech G

The Logitech G range of peripherals is aimed at gamers. These products are specially designed to play.

Optical mice: MX300, MX310, MX500, MX510, MX518, MX700, MX900, GPro, G403, G502, G500s, G900, G203 (or G102), G603, G300s, G302, G703, G903,

Laser mice: G1, G3, G5, G7, G9, G9x, MX Revolution

Keyboards: G11, G13, G15, G15 v2,G19, G110, G510, G910 Orion Spark, G105, G213, G410 Atlas Spectrum, G413, G610, G810 Orion Spectrum, G910 Orion Spectrum,GPro,G613

Joysticks: Flight System G940

Steering Wheels : Logitech G25 Logitech G27, Logitech G290, Logitech G29, Logitech Driving Force GT

• Logitech G920The G-series logitech launchers have a realism almost that of real life since they have clutch, accelerator, brake, 6-speed and reverse H lever and the steering wheel turn stands out among the other marks with a 900° turn radius (2 turns and a half). These same characteristics are also found in the Driving Force series such as Driving Force Pro and Driving Force GT (only in this series both flyers do not have clutch or box in H, only Secuencial).

Speakers: G51, X-530*, X-540*

• The latter were not created in the G series, but are designed for games and movies and offer the same performance as the G51 model.
• All these speakers have the technology of two transducers. What gives them a modern and complete look, as both sound at the same time with the same sounds.

Headphones: G930, G430, G230

X,Z Series Speakers

• X: Intermediate range speakers similar quality to the z series with variants in size and power.

• Z: High-end speakers with high-quality transducers and with THX certification. (Z-680, Z-5500, Z-2300, Z-5450).

G19 keyboard

The G19 keyboard belongs to Logitech's G series, products specially designed for gaming. It has the peculiarity of having an integrated two-inch LCD screen called LCD Logitech GamePanel that allows detailed information on the most popular games such as World of Warcraft or Warhammer Online, among other functions such as PC performance monitors, stopwatch, countdown timer, player control. Multimedia Possibility of viewing Youtube videos and others stored on the computer, viewing images of the equipment, and the possibility of creating new applications.

The keys have lighting through customizable color LED diodes, designed to play even in the dark and twelve keys that allow, thanks to the software that includes the product, to record macros to the user's liking and store them by profiles. Allows the pressing of five keys simultaneously.

It also has a Windows key lock, although combinations such as Alt + Tab or Ctrl + Alt + Del will continue to work, among other media player controls and a cable distribution system at the bottom of the keyboard, which helps reduce the amount of cables and to keep it tidy

Competitors

Logitech's main competitors in the computer peripherals market are Perfect Choice, Microsoft, the Taiwanese company Genius, and Singapore's Creative. The market for computer peripherals and gaming accessories is a constantly growing market, so competition is constantly growing. Logitech faces serious competition from lesser-known generic or local brands in several countries, as well as companies now investing in the computer peripherals market.