Japanese handset makers have seen better days. Just when we reported that Panasonic may be looking for a buyer for its mobile phone business, another company has apparently also found itself in the same position. It’s NEC, which may be in talks to sell its mobile phone division to Lenovo as we speak.
The Japanese company has been losing money on its phone sales for two years and now it wants to do something about it. And since it already has a partnership with Lenovo in a joint venture to produce computers in Japan, the high-level contacts are already there so I guess now it’s all about finding the right conditions (read: price).
Needless to say, NEC and its partner Casio, didn’t comment on rumors, though they did say that they haven’t “discounted any partners in negotiations, including domestic firms.” Not sure which Japanese company is ready to add NEC’s products to its portfolio, but what do we know – perhaps Sony could jump-in, perhaps not. In any case, we do hope that NEC’s two-faced Medias W won’t be lost as part of any deal. We do need novel form factors and NEC has shown us it can deliver on that front. We’ll let you know when we hear something new on this…
[Via: TheVerge]