Panasonic looks for 3G allies

date: July 24, 2001

Panasonic may seek partners to fuel its ambitious goal of becoming the supplier of 10 percent of the world's cellular phones by 2003. The plan was announced earlier this month by the company's newly elected president, Yasuo Katsura.

Katsura said Panasonic would consider alliances with software developers to produce 3G phones with two browsers. He also suggested the company might strike broader alliances with other handset or networking companies.

Panasonic make browser for i-mode, but looking at the speed of change, we cannot rule out the possibility of making a dual browser on one handset, and partnering with software firms, Katsura said.

Panasonic, which is a subsidiary of Matsushita, produced 26 percent of the 47.7 million mobile phones sold in Japan last year, just beating out NEC Corp.'s 23 percent and dwarfing Sony Corp.'s 7.3 percent.

Some of the applications Panasonic envisage for 3G are:

- SD Memory Card - This is a small, high-speed memory device marketed by Panasonic in co-operation with SanDisk and Toshiba. This can be used to facilitate fast, simple and secure downloading of digital files, like music, photos or news to mobile phones, PCs, video cameras and many other electronic devices.

- JAVA - the programming language that will enable more sophisticated games and richer graphics, the automatic downloading of latest information and enhanced security.

- Bluetooth - This radio technology will enable connectivity between electronic devices such as mobile phones (pen-type handsets or wrist phones), personal computers, games devices and personal headsets). Panasonic is an active member of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group.

- MPEG 4 - the method of encoding video for transmission by mobile phones and the Internet. With a 3G Visual telephone you can use the real-time video camera for a video conference call or just video chat. Also with the in-built camera you can take pictures to help visualise events, accidents or just the local scenery.

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last updated: January 12, 2004

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