Type | Public company (Aktiengesellschaft) |
---|---|
FWB: C3RY | |
Industry | Electronic switches Computer hardware |
Founded | 1953 |
Founder | Walter Lorain Cherry |
Headquarters | , Germany |
Key people | Rolf Unterberger (CEO), Bernd Wagner (CFO) |
Revenue | €167.5 million (2021) [1] |
€27.6 million (2021) [1] | |
€9.3 million (2021) [1] | |
Total assets | €411 million (2021) [1] |
Number of employees | 400 (2021) |
Website | www www.cherrymx.de |
Cherry AG (formerly Cherry Corporation and stylized as CHERRY) is a German computer peripheral-device maker. The company has its roots in the United States and is headquartered in Germany. [2] [3] It has additional offices in the United States, France, and China. [3] They manufactured a large range of products including sensors, vibrators and automotive modules until 2008, when Peter Cherry, the son of Walter L. Cherry, sold his company to ZF Friedrichshafen AG, a German supplier to the automotive industry. Cherry was renamed ZF Electronics GmbH, while the Cherry brand was continued only for its computer input devices. Since the beginning of 2016 this product line has been operating independently on the market as the Cherry Group. After an eight-year partnership with ZF Friedrichshafen AG, Cherry (the computer input device manufacturer) was sold to GENUI Partners in October 2016. [4] In October 2020, Cherry was acquired by the private equity firm Argand Partners [5] and as of June 2021 is now listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange as C3RY. [6]
Cherry was founded by Walter Cherry in 1953 in the basement of a restaurant in Highland Park, Illinois, USA. With the passing of its founder, his son Peter took over the ownership of the organization. The company's headquarters were moved to Auerbach in der Oberpfalz, Germany in 1979. Cherry has manufactured keyboards since 1973, [2] and claims to be the oldest keyboard manufacturer still in business. [7]
In 2008, Cherry was bought by ZF Friedrichshafen AG and incorporated as the ZF Electronics GmbH Corporate Division. The Cherry brand continues to be used.
In 2019, the company attracted controversy when it offered a giveaway that excluded female gamers, resulting in a boycott by some users in China. The company argued that it would still give prizes to women, amending the giveaway. [8]
Cherry maintains production facilities in Europe (most notably in Bayreuth, Germany), Asia, and the Americas. All of its products are designed and developed at the company's headquarters in Auerbach in der Oberpfalz. It also has offices in the UK, Italy, France, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, Australia and other locations, with distributors in most major countries.
Among Cherry's widely known products are its line of MX and ML key switches, including red, blue, and brown switches, that have been used in industrial electronics and point of sale environments since their inception in the 1980s, and more recently (~2008) by numerous manufacturers of consumer PC keyboards.
At CES 2017, the company announced an update of its "classic" G80-3000 keyboard, with a noise reduction. The Verge said that the new version "fixed a fatal flaw" with the company's mechanical keyboards – their clicking keyboard noises. [9] According to TechCrunch, Cherry "has long been the de facto standard for mechanical keyboard switches." Three years later, the company launches it first "fully mechanical switch" intended for the "value market," or lower cost keyboards. [10]
Currently, Cherry makes the following products:
Cherry MX switches were developed and patented in the early 1980s and first marketed around 1985. In the consumer keyboard market, Cherry MX switches are often referenced by the color of the key stem—the part of the switch below the keycap which moves downwards when pressed. [11]
Keyboard makers such as Cooler Master, Corsair, and G.Skill use Cherry's Cherry MX switches in their designs or "imitate them," [12] such as Razer's Kailh Green switches in the first Generation Razer Black widow Chroma. [13] Cherry sells its own keyboards in "modest volumes." Its MX 10.0 TKL keyboard lacks the tenkey section of the keyboard. [14] In 2018, the company introduced mechanical keyboard switches for thinner keyboards. [15] It makes its Cherry MX Silent switches, or Pink switches, as a range on keyboards like the Corsair K70. [16]
Most common Cherry MX switches are:
Cherry MX Grey switches can be found in linear (which provides a smooth, consistent feel sans feedback), [17] tactile, and clicky variants. They are distinguished by stem color, with linear being darker than tactile. The clicky version is no longer made. It is debated as to whether it even clicks, since it is not listed as a "click" switch by Cherry in their 1994 "Keymodule MX brochure", along with MX Whites, which are greased to reduce the click. [18] Given their use primarily in large keys like Space Bar , the feel is selected to match that of the other keys on the board.
Other types of Cherry MX switches, such as Green and Grey, are used for larger keys ( Space Bar , ⇧ Shift , ↵ Enter , etc.). The feel of Cherry MX Green switches are often compared to that of the "buckling spring" switches on original IBM Model M keyboards. [19] Cherry switches have an advertised lifespan of up to 100 million actuations, depending on switch type. [20]
The auditory and tactile nature of each switch, and the amount of force needed to actuate it, vary depending on the switch type:
Switch type | Clicky | Tactile | Linear | Actuation force | Tactile force | Actuation point | Total travel | Product code | Type |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Red | No | No | Yes | 0.45 N | N/A | 2.0 mm | 4.0 mm | MX1A-L1xx | Normal |
Silent Red | No | No | Yes | 0.45 N | N/A | 1.9 mm | 3.7 mm | MX3A-L1xx | Normal |
Speed Silver | No | No | Yes | 0.45 N | N/A | 1.2 mm | 3.4 mm | MX1A-51xx | Normal |
Nature White | No | No | Yes | 0.55 N | N/A | 2.0 mm | 4.0 mm | MX1A-41NA | Normal |
Black | No | No | Yes | 0.60 N | N/A | 2.0 mm | 4.0 mm | MX1A-11xx | Normal |
Silent Black | No | No | Yes | 0.60 N | N/A | 1.9 mm | 3.7 mm | MX3A-11xx | Normal |
Linear Grey | No | No | Yes | 0.80 N | N/A | 2.0 mm | 4.0 mm | MX1A-21xx | Larger keys |
Brown | No | Yes | No | 0.45 N | 0.55 N | 2.0 mm | 4.0 mm | MX1A-G1xx | Normal |
Clear | No | Yes | No | 0.55 N | 0.65 N | 2.0 mm | 4.0 mm | MX1A-C1xx | Larger keys |
Tactile Grey | No | Yes | No | 0.80 N | 0.80 N | 2.0 mm | 4.0 mm | MX1A-D1xx | Larger keys |
Blue | Yes | Yes | No | 0.50 N | 0.60 N | 2.2 mm | 4.0 mm | MX1A-E1xx | Normal |
White / new White | Yes | Yes | No | 0.50 N / 0.70 N | 0.60 N / 0.80 N | 2.0 mm | 4.0 mm | MX1A-A1xx | Normal / Larger keys |
Green | Yes | Yes | No | 0.70 N | 0.80 N | 2.2 mm | 4.0 mm | MX1A-F1xx | Larger keys |
In 2008, Cherry's production facility in Bayreuth received the Bayerischer Qualitätspreis 2008 award. [21] At the end of 2006, Cherry received the Automotive Lean Production Award of the German economy magazine Automobil-Produktion. In 2005, Cherry GmbH in Auerbach received the Industrial Excellence Award as best European industrial facility.
The technology of computer keyboards includes many elements. Among the more important of these is the switch technology that they use. Computer alphanumeric keyboards typically have 80 to 110 durable switches, generally one for each key. The choice of switch technology affects key response and pre-travel. Virtual keyboards on touch screens have no physical switches and provide audio and haptic feedback instead. Some newer keyboard models use hybrids of various technologies to achieve greater cost savings or better ergonomics.
In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of switch is an electromechanical device consisting of one or more sets of movable electrical contacts connected to external circuits. When a pair of contacts is touching current can pass between them, while when the contacts are separated no current can flow.
Haptic technology, also known as kinaesthetic communication or 3D touch, refers to any technology that can create an experience of touch by applying forces, vibrations, or motions to the user. These technologies can be used to create virtual objects in a computer simulation, to control virtual objects, and to enhance remote control of machines and devices (telerobotics). Haptic devices may incorporate tactile sensors that measure forces exerted by the user on the interface. The word haptic, from the Greek: ἁπτικός (haptikos), means "tactile, pertaining to the sense of touch". Simple haptic devices are common in the form of game controllers, joysticks, and steering wheels.
The Model F was a series of computer keyboards produced mainly from 1981–1985 and in reduced volume until 1994 by IBM and later Lexmark. Its mechanical-key design consisted of a buckling spring over a capacitive PCB, similar to the later Model M keyboard that used a membrane in place of the PCB.
A buckling spring is a type of keyswitch mechanism, popularized by IBM's keyboards for the PC, PC/AT, 5250/3270 terminals, PS/2, and other systems. It was used by IBM's Model F keyboards, and the more common Model M. It is described in U.S. Patent 4,118,611 and U.S. Patent 4,528,431, both now expired.
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ZF Friedrichshafen AG, also known as ZF Group, originally Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen, and commonly abbreviated to ZF, is a German car parts maker headquartered in Friedrichshafen, in the south-west German state of Baden-Württemberg.
ZF Sachs AG, also known as Fichtel & Sachs, was founded in Schweinfurt in 1895 and was a well-known German family business. At its last point as an independent company, the company name was Fichtel & Sachs AG.
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Hi-Tek Corporation was an American electronics company based in California. At first making relays, actuators, and timers in the 1960s, the company pivoted to the manufacture of keyboard assemblies and discrete keyswitches in the late 1970s. They proved successful in the keyboard business, gaining clients such as Hewlett-Packard and Texas Instruments, and were acquired by Nippon Miniature Bearing in 1983.
In both feel and specifications, though, the greens are closer to the buckling spring switches of IBM's iconic Model M keyboards. That makes them uniquely appealing to old-school geeks.
Durability: > 100 million actuations