In 2023 Zoom Corporation will celebrate its 40th anniversary. Our first in-house product, the 9002, announced in 1990, was a device called an effector that changed the tone of an electric guitar. While it incorporated the features of six units in a single one, it was still smaller than any of the effectors produced at the time.
Back then I didn't know much about effectors, but the impact of the 9002 was such that even I understood that "some amazing device had been put on the market." Since then, Zoom has continued to release innovative products, including shockingly unexpensive effectors (505 series), a palm-sized recorder capable of multi-track recording (PS-02) and many more.
Reading about these products in magazines at the time filled me with excitment, and I would have been shocked to know that roughly 30 years later I would be appointed CEO of the same company. Which is why I want us to continue to be an innovative company that can give other people the same excitement I myself felt at the time.
Having said that, we do not design our products with the explicit goal of being innovative. As stated in our ”We're For Creators” corporate tagline, Zoom products are designed with creators in mind. We believe that self-expression activities by creators are the origin of culture and one of humanity’s great assets. Supporting such sublime activities through "sound" is our mission, and designing with creators in mind results in us being regarded as innovative.
I myself have been involved in bands for many years, and it has been an invaluable experience. Even leaving out their contribution to culture, I believe that self-expression activities are what makes life meaningful.
Going forward, we will continue to take on challenges in the spirit of supporting the culture of the future by providing ever more opportunities to add color to our lives, and we sincerely ask for the understanding and support of all of our stakeholders in this endeavor.
Shunsuke Kudoh
Representative Director and CEO
ZOOM Corporation
March 2023