Cowon

Cowon Systems, Inc. is a South Korean multinational consumer electronicsand software corporation. Established in 1995, the corporation’s initial focus was software development and microelectronics, specializing in voice synthesis technology.

In 2000, with the introduction of the iAUDIO CW100, Cowon expanded their business to theportable media player industry, which is now their main area of business.

In the same year, Cowon expanded to the American market by founding the company JetAudio, Inc., headquartered in Irvine, California. On, this branch changed its name to Cowon America, but has since switched back to JetAudio.

In the west, Cowon is most well known for its iAUDIO range of portable media players, which has resulted in many people incorrectly referring to the corporation as “Cowon iAUDIO” or simply “iAUDIO”.

In its marketing, Cowon makes distinguishes between “MP3 players” and “portable media players”, where the latter are larger and have a greater focus on video playback.