Panasonic Adds to 3G Phone Supply

October 27, 2004 - source: BWCS

Matsushita subsidiary Panasonic has launched its first 3G handset aimed at the international market. The company, which has been beavering away at making next generation mobile phones for NTT DoCoMo in Japan since 2001, has finally revealed its WCDMA terminal for the non-Japanese market.

Panasonic has put a prototype of its new phone, imaginatively dubbed the Z800 at the current China 2004 Telecoms show in Beijing. However, the company has yet to say when the new phone will be commercially available or which markets it intends to target wit it.

Panasonic was one of first two handset makers contracted by DoCoMo when the Japanese operator first launched 3G services. The Z800 is said to bear a very close resemblance to the first model launched in Japan the P2101V. More recently Panasonic has developed three further WCDMA handsets and two PC Card data modems for NTT DoCoMo's service.