Japan's NEC Corp, Hitachi Ltd and Casio Computer Co are in talks to merge their struggling mobile phone manufacturing operations to create Japan's No 2 handset maker, the Yomiuri daily reported on Friday.
Loss-making NEC could hive off its mobile operations and merge it with an existing joint venture between Hitachi and Casio to together develop handsets, or the three could merge their mobile phone production operations, the newspaper said without citing sources.
NEC would be likely to hold a majority of the new firm, it said. The three are struggling in Japan's saturated cellphone market and mounting development costs, said to be about 10 billion yen ($107 million) per handset. In the year ended in March, Sharp Corp controlled over one-fifth of Japan's handset market, followed by Panasonic Corp.
Agencies
Showing posts with label cellphone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cellphone. Show all posts
Friday, August 28, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Motorola ex-CFO sues for firing him
Motorola Inc's former chief financial officer (CFO) has sued the company for firing him, claiming that it was a "retaliatory discharge."
Paul Liska sued the maker of telecommunications equipment in county court in Chicago on February 20, a day after he was fired. The suit is under seal, and no further details were available. Liska did not return calls for comment, and the company did not return an email.
A "retaliatory discharge" usually refers to an employee being fired for doing something that's in the public interest, like being a whistleblower.
Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola said in early February that Liska was leaving after less than a year of service. It didn't specify a cause, but Chief Executive Greg Brown implied on a conference call that it was connected to the delayed spin-off of the company's cellphone unit. Liska, a former partner at private equity companies, was seen as a restructuring expert.
However, Motorola revealed in a filing this week that it had terminated Liska "for cause," depriving him of his signing bonus, stock options and severance payment. It didn't specify the cause.
The Wall Street Journal quoted Liska as saying he had been told he been terminated on January 29 without cause. There was no explanation for the discrepancy in dates on when Liska was terminated.
Agencies
Paul Liska sued the maker of telecommunications equipment in county court in Chicago on February 20, a day after he was fired. The suit is under seal, and no further details were available. Liska did not return calls for comment, and the company did not return an email.
A "retaliatory discharge" usually refers to an employee being fired for doing something that's in the public interest, like being a whistleblower.
Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola said in early February that Liska was leaving after less than a year of service. It didn't specify a cause, but Chief Executive Greg Brown implied on a conference call that it was connected to the delayed spin-off of the company's cellphone unit. Liska, a former partner at private equity companies, was seen as a restructuring expert.
However, Motorola revealed in a filing this week that it had terminated Liska "for cause," depriving him of his signing bonus, stock options and severance payment. It didn't specify the cause.
The Wall Street Journal quoted Liska as saying he had been told he been terminated on January 29 without cause. There was no explanation for the discrepancy in dates on when Liska was terminated.
Agencies
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Is Nokia likely to enter laptop industry?
The world's top cellphone maker Nokia is eyeing entering the laptop business, its Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in an interview to Finnish national broadcaster YLE on Wednesday.
"We are looking very actively also at this opportunity," Kallasvuo said, when asked whether Nokia plans to make laptops.
Industry has rumoured about Nokia's possible plan to enter the PC industry since late last year, but Kallasvuo's comment was the first official admittance of such plans.
"We don't have to look even for five years from now to see that what we know as a cellphone and what we know as a PC are in many ways converging," Kallasvuo said.
"Today we have hundreds of millions of people who are having their first Internet experience on the phone. This is a good indication," he said.
Nokia's comments come a week after No 3 PC brand Acer launched a foray into the phone business with eight cellphone models, joining leader Hewlett-Packard and No. 4 Lenovo in the high-growth space.
While strong profit margins in the smartphone industry attract PC brands, the attraction of the low-margin computer industry is less obvious.
"Nokia maybe nervous about entering a market segment that is already heavily commoditised, but it would be in a position to exploit its enormous scale in manufacturing, supply chain and distribution," said Ben Wood, research director at CCS Insight.
"All leading mobile network operators and retailers are adding connected notebooks and netbooks to their portfolios alongside mobile phones. On this basis it comes as no surprise that Nokia is evaluating this segment," he said.
The global PC industry was resilient for most of last year when other technology sectors were ailing, but it too has now been caught up in the deepening economic downturn that has hit demand from consumers and corporate buyers.
Agencies
"We are looking very actively also at this opportunity," Kallasvuo said, when asked whether Nokia plans to make laptops.
Industry has rumoured about Nokia's possible plan to enter the PC industry since late last year, but Kallasvuo's comment was the first official admittance of such plans.
"We don't have to look even for five years from now to see that what we know as a cellphone and what we know as a PC are in many ways converging," Kallasvuo said.
"Today we have hundreds of millions of people who are having their first Internet experience on the phone. This is a good indication," he said.
Nokia's comments come a week after No 3 PC brand Acer launched a foray into the phone business with eight cellphone models, joining leader Hewlett-Packard and No. 4 Lenovo in the high-growth space.
While strong profit margins in the smartphone industry attract PC brands, the attraction of the low-margin computer industry is less obvious.
"Nokia maybe nervous about entering a market segment that is already heavily commoditised, but it would be in a position to exploit its enormous scale in manufacturing, supply chain and distribution," said Ben Wood, research director at CCS Insight.
"All leading mobile network operators and retailers are adding connected notebooks and netbooks to their portfolios alongside mobile phones. On this basis it comes as no surprise that Nokia is evaluating this segment," he said.
The global PC industry was resilient for most of last year when other technology sectors were ailing, but it too has now been caught up in the deepening economic downturn that has hit demand from consumers and corporate buyers.
Agencies
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