panasonic
panasonic

panasonic

Industry to Create Open Mobile Linux Platform

Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics, and Vodafone have just announced their intent to establish the world’s first global, open Linux-based software platform for mobile devices. A world-class Linux-based platform aims to provide key benefits for the mobile industry including lower development costs, increased flexibility, and a richer mobile ecosystem – all of which contribute to the group’s ultimate objective of creating compelling, differentiated and enhanced consumer experiences.

NEC Talking 3-Way Tie-up

NEC and Matsushita (Panasonic) are in talks to extend their co-operation in the mobile phone sector in an effort to ensure survival in the overcrowded Japanese market, NEC’s president said on Monday. The expanded collaboration would focus on handset manufacturing and could include the joint procurement of components and further collaboration in research and development. The two groups already co-operate in 3G technology research. According to reports, three-way talks among NEC, Matsushita and Texas Instruments Inc. about cellphone cooperation are in their final stage. The consolidation strategy was mentioned by NEC’s incoming president, Kaoru Yano, in March.

Panasonic to Supply Handsets to KDDI

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. revealed that it plans to supply mobile phones to wireless operator KDDI Corp., adding a second customer for its handset business in Japan. The maker of Panasonic products currently supplies cellphones in Japan to NTT DoCoMo Inc., the country’s top mobile operator, but does not do business with second-ranked KDDI and third-largest Vodafone K.K., a unit of Softbank Corp.

TI, NEC and Panasonic Consider JV

According to the Nikkei, top mobile phone chip supplier Texas Instruments Inc., NEC Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. are in talks over possible cooperation in cellphones, Matsushita and NEC said on Friday. NEC’s chip unit, NEC Electronics Corp., and the cellphone unit of Matsushita, Panasonic Mobile Communications Co., are involved in the talks, they said, adding that nothing concrete has been decided.

Japan Launches Digital TV for Mobile Phones

Japan Launches Digital TV for Mobile PhonesNHK and five commercial TV broadcasters held a splashy launch party in Tokyo’s central Shinjuku train station on Saturday afternoon, announcing the official start of terrestrial ‘One-Seg’ broadcast services. The carriers have lined up accordingly: NTT DoCoMo has partnered with Nippon Television and Fuji Television, while KDDI has forged a partnership with TV Asahi.

The new digital tuner-enabled handsets, coming from Panasonic, Hitachi and Sanyo, should deliver up to three hours of TV viewing time by processing and decoding only the requested channel — as opposed to current analog units which run only about an hour and eat more juice as they decode all incoming broadcast channels. Vodafone’s 905SH from Sharp is rumoured to be available just in time for the World Cup in June.

WWJ has been covering this story since the spring of 2004 when early prototype handsets were first introduced at an NHK open-house event.

Usen Plans Free Mobile Video

Usen Corp. plans to begin a free video distribution service for cellular phones on March 27, with the goal of attracting 3 million registered users in the initial year. Videos, each lasting no more than five minutes or so, will be transmitted to users of 3G-handsets that support video and high-speed data communications functions once they register their personal information, including ZIP codes, sex and email addresses. No fees will be charged, but four short commercials will be inserted into each programme.