Here's a good, brief company history, straight from the horse's mouth:

http://www.olympusamerica.com/oai_ab...us.asp?sPage=1

This site is also useful for information on milestones:

http://www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~rwesson/e...camhistory.htm

From the above page:
"Their first models from 1996 were P&S style cameras"