Australian Markets Archive

  • New cell phone maker NEC-Casio goes America, targets 200% international sales boost

    New cell phone maker NEC-Casio goes America, targets 200% international sales boost

    As MobileCrunch reported back in August, three of Japan's eight top cell phone makers, namely NEC, Casio and Hitachi are going to merge their cell phone businesses next year. Under the agreement, NEC plans to integrate its handset division into a tie-up that already existed between Hitachi and Casio starting April 2010 (the begin of the new fiscal year under the Japanese business calendar). In the meantime, the companies involved decided on a name for the new venture: NEC Casio Mobile. The company's capitalization stands at a relatively modest $55 million, with NEC holding a 71% stake, Casio 20% and Hitachi 9%. And as I speculated in my previous article, that new company plans to enter the global market in a (relatively) aggressive way.

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