Alps Electric

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Alps Electric Co., Ltd.
アルプス電気株式会社
Industry Electronic devices
Founded 1948
Founder(s) Katsutaro Kataoka
Headquarters Ota, Tokyo, Japan
FCC grantee code CWT (Alps Electric, Japan)
GYI (Alps Electric USA)
Website www.alpsalpine.com


Alps Electric Co. is a Japanese company that is known in the keyboard community primarily for the Alps SKCL/SKCM series of mechanical keyswitches. Though Alps SKCL/SKCM switches have not been in production for many years, Alps clone switches are still manufactured today.

The company name "Alps" is often mistakenly written as in all caps—"ALPS"—based on the Alps logotype. The correct capitalization is "Alps".[1] "ALPs" is another common incorrect capitalization.

Since 2019 the company is known as Alps Alpine after merging with Alpine, a former, separate joint venture of Alps Electric and Motorola that started itself in 1967 as Alps Motorola.[2]

Alps Electric (USA)

Former headquarters and manufacturing plant of Alps Electric USA in Garden Grove, California.

Alps Electric (USA), who were a major supplier to Apple, bought the Accessory Products Division from Apple.[3]

Overseas joint ventures

Alps Electric has established several overseas joint ventures; these include:

  • Gold Star Alps Electronics in Korea, established in August 1970; GoldStar is now LG, and it appears that Alps may have renewed the venture in 1996[1]
  • Forward Electronics in Taiwan, established in December 1970; this 30-year venture ended in 2000

Products

Gallery

Keycaps

Alps double-shot keycaps have distinctive styles that makes them easy to recognise. Evidence suggests that they were only ever sold with keyboards made by Alps, and they have been found on keyboards with a variety of Alps switches, including Alps SKFL, Alps integrated dome and Alps SKCL/SKCM series.[4]

As with other double-shot manufacturers, the moulding patterns vary between keycaps.

Logos

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Alps Electric — [About Alps] History
  2. Alps Alpine — History
  3. oldmouse.com — Apple Lisa Mouse
  4. Deskthority — Alps as a doubleshot manufacturer?