New Android phone form Panasonic
Panasonic will launch a new Android model in Europe in March, later expanding to the United States and Asia, with a view to selling 15 million units in the year to March 2016, 9 million of those abroad, the company said on Friday.
The move comes six years after Panasonic abandoned overseas sales of its feature phones, and weeks after its president, Fumio Ohtsubo, said he was slashing television production in a bid to speed up the ailing firm's planned shift from consumer electronics to environmental and energy technology.
Panasonic to launch ultra-slim, waterproof and dustproof Android phone with 4.3 inch OLED display in March 2012
Panasonic will launch a new Android model in Europe in March, later expanding to the United States and Asia, with a view to selling 15 million units in the year to March 2016, 9 million of those abroad, the company said on Friday.
"We are well aware of our powerful competitors," said Toshinori Hoshi, head of the company's mobile communications unit. "However, market shares are changing dramatically and if we launch into this fast-changing market, we believe we have a chance of a hit."
The company is targeting only a tiny percentage of a market that research firm IDC expects to grow 55 per cent to 472 million units this year and hit 982 million units in 2015.
Despite such robust market growth, even heavyweights such as Taiwan's HTC Corp, the world's No.4 smartphone maker, are struggling to compete, while South Korea's LG Electronics Inc last month announced a $945 million rights issue to fund a revival of its own loss-making smartphone business.
A force to be reckoned with in mobile phones when the domestic market was booming, Panasonic admits it failed to spot the market potential for smartphones at first. It did not launch its first smartphone models in the domestic market until this year.
"It's not a surprise that they're going overseas, but their presence is weaker than it was a few years ago in mobile phones and the whole company is not as strong as it once was," said analyst Keita Wakabayashi of Mito Securities in Tokyo.
"So I think it will be difficult."
Rival Sony Corp is also stepping up its efforts to build share in smartphones, buying out Ericsson's half of their phone joint venture for 1.05 billion euros, and is seen as having a better chance of success.
"They (Sony) can just about claim they are a global player, although they're the smallest, which is something no other Japanese phone manufacturer can say," Wakabayashi said.
Panasonic's new phone, featuring a 4.3-inch OLED screen, has yet to be named, the company said. It will be aimed at businesspeople aged in their 30s and 40s, it said.
Panasonic shares closed down 2.8 per cent at 694 yen on Friday. The stock is down 40 per cent this year and late last month touched its lowest since at least 1984.
Panasonic has grand plans with it’s smartphone which is expected to hit Europe by March 2012. The company has released few details along with some pictures of the Panasonic prototype Android phone. The device uses a 4.3 inch qHD OLED display with a really slim bezel.The design will be ultra-slim and sport a D-shape.The front shows off the Panasonic branding along with the Menu , home and Back keys. Since waterproof phones are pretty common in Japan , Panasonic is bringing itsexpertise to the table and claimsthat it’s first smartphone will be waterproof and dustproof.Here is another photo which shows a rear camera and NFC support. There are also volume keys and a power button on the side. The company aims to sell 1.5 million smartphones in Europe next year.
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