Motorola Enterprise Mobility Solutions celebrates the 35th anniversary of the first bar code ever scanned in retail and the contributions WE'VE made to bar code scanning ever since

Motorola has a deep heritage in the advanced data capture industry, and has played a major role influencing the global impact that the scanner and bar code have had over the last 35 years. Billions of people worldwide have come into contact with Motorola's scanning products and technologies – and we are excited to celebrate the anniversary of the bar code and Motorola's continued innovation over the years.

Now part of Motorola, the former Symbol Technologies got its early start when two partners, Jerome Swartz and Sheldon Harrison, started selling bar code masters that corresponded to the newly standardized Universal Product Codes (U.P.C.). These masters were used by consumer packaged goods manufacturers in the production of label packaging.

In 1980, Swartz and Harrison took all they knew about printing and reading bar codes and developed the very first handheld laser scanner – the LS100. With the launch of the LS7000 in 1982, we became a household name and began paving the way for the bar code scanner industry as we know it today.

We realized that bar code technology could provide productivity-enhancing benefits to all kinds of businesses and in the late 1980s launched the LS8000, the first rugged handheld laser scanner. This helped bring bar codes into warehouses and manufacturing facilities around the world.

In 1990, we launched the first handheld mobile computer. The LRT3800 combined bar code scanning with the mobile computing power and wireless communications needed to streamline inventory processes and pave the way for the untold number of mobile computing applications now in use today.

Over the years, we would continue their innovation to further enhance and shape data capture. From the development of the PDF417 barcode to the first portable shopping system and the first wearable scanner, we would become the trusted data capture partner of many of the world's largest businesses.

Acquired by Motorola in 2007, and now operating as part of Motorola's Enterprise Mobility Solutions, we carry on our rich legacy of innovation by producing game-changing technology that continues to advance the industry. As we celebrate this exciting anniversary, we are proud of our achievements and the role we have played in shaping the way enterprises do business today and how they will in the future.