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Alps Alpine/Alps Electric

Contents

Overview

Alps Alpine Co., Ltd., formerly the Alps Electric Co. Ltd. (Japanese, アルプス電気株式会社) is a Japanese electronics manufacturer that was formerly one of the leading keyboard manufacturers in the world. The best-known Alps keyboards are the Dell Model 101 (family AT101-102) and the Apple Extended Keyboard and Extended Keyboard II. However, the list of keyboards that they manufactured is extensive, and they may have devised a greater range of switch series than any other keyboard manufacturer in the world.

At the behest of Apple, Mike Muller of Datanetics founded the Keyboard Company as a dedicated supplier to Apple. Apple later bought out the Keyboard Company, which became their Accessory Products Division (APD). When Apple decided to abandon this in-house production, the APD factories in Garden Grove in the US and Millstreet in Ireland were sold to Alps Electric. The Garden Grove facility was sold to Alps in late 1985 for a figure estimated at the time to be in the range of $5 million; this purchase gave Alps its first US manufacturing facility, becoming Alps Electric (USA) Inc. While Apple also left Millstreet in 1985, Alps did not take over the Ireland factory at the same time. Alps Electric (Ireland) Limited was founded in 1988, using the old Apple factory, and in 2018 Alps celebrated its 30th Anniversary in Millstreet.

On the 1st of January 2019, Alps Electric and Alpine Electronics merged to form Alps Alpine.

Research

Product lines

Switches

Keyboards

The K series (circa 1979–1985) contained both the switches and keyboard assemblies. e.g. Series KFL contained both KFL switches and keyboards made with these switches. From around 1985, switches and keyboards were split out into pairs of series: SK for keyboards and KF for full keyboards.

The following keyboard series are confirmed from catalogues, product labels etc. The list below also includes those series where the switches could not be sold separately. Not every SK switch type is known to have had a corresponding KF full-size keyboard type.