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Superscope was well acquainted with the ins and outs of the business world---after all, it had secured the patent for its profitable wide screen system without outside help. Naturally then, Superscope was a highly demanding agent, but they did a good job selling Sony's tape recorders and microphones.
Sony also had a long association with Agrod. It all began in 1954 when Akira Higuchi went to the U.S. to sell the F-3 microphone that Sony had designed earlier that year. Together with Yamada, he went from dealer to distributor trying to sell the microphone. To their dismay, however, not a single person would listen to their sales pitch. Higuchi was not one to
give up easily, but this left him at a loss for what to do next.
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 | | The home-use microphone which Akira Higuchi took to the United States. |
The last dealer they visited seemed to sympathize and offered some advice.  It's useless trying to sell things that way in the U.S. Everyone uses agents. You should talk to Adolph Gross's Agrod Co.
Naturally they had not known about agents---it was Higuchi's first time in the U.S., and Yamada had not been involved in marketing before. They set off immediately for Agrod Co., which was located on Broadway next to the Woolworth building, the tallest in the world until the Empire State Building was built.
In September 1955, Sony signed contracts with Superscope and Agrod authorizing them to be Sony's marketing agents. Delmonico International, a respected electronics wholesaler and dealer with a nationwide marketing network, was selected as Sony's distributor.
Initially things worked out well. Thanks to Delmonico's strong sales campaigns, export volume in Sony's transistor radios jumped dramatically. Unfortunately though, good things do not last forever. In time, the relationship began to sour. Delmonico's marketing practices were gradually straying from Morita's long-range goals. Morita wanted to increase sales to all of the U.S., but Delmonico, a New York-based company, was showing comfortable sales and profits in the New York area, and it was not enthusiastic about developing the market further. In addition, Delmonico only accepted products that they knew they could sell and, worse yet, insisted that Sony produce a cheaper radio. That was totally incompatible with Sony's policies. Tensions rose. The last straw, however, was Delmonico's breach of contract.
In January 1960, Morita went to New York accompanied by Masayoshi Suzuki, who had joined Sony the year before. Suzuki had been Morita's classmate in junior high school in Aichi Prefecture and was invited to join Sony and make use of the expertise he had gained working at an import export company.
Soon after their arrival, the Delmonico situation erupted. Delmonico had announced to retailers that they would be handling the TV8-301, tha world's first non-projection transistorized television. They had even announced a specific price and were accepting orders---all without any prior consultation with Morita.
Morita had patiently endured Delmonico's excessive willfulness throughout the relationship, but this was the last straw. Only a month earlier, Sony had announced the completion of the TV8-301 in Japan, but with no mention of a launch date. Naturally then, Sony had not made any announcement in the U.S. and had not even begun to consider a price tag for U.S.-bound sets. Moreover, Delmonico was not authorized under contract to sell televisions, and Morita had not intended to let them handle the TV8-301. He decided it was time to terminate the contract with Delmonico.
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