Panasonic planning European smartphone market exit, less than a year after its return

Panasonic could be planning to withdraw from the European smartphone market, despite only having rejoined at the beginning of the year. Poor sales are cited as the reason, but a lack of effort and financial problems could be closer to the mark.

A new report indicates Panasonic is considering withdrawing its range of phones from Europe, despite only having re-entered the market at the beginning of the year.

Having previously left Europe in 2005, so it could concentrate on sales at home, Panasonic announced its return in February, and showed off its new handsets during Mobile World Congress. A Reuters report says it wanted to sell 1.5 million phones this year, but it’s unlikely to reach this figure, prompting talk of a withdrawal.

It placed its hopes on two phones, the Eluga and the Eluga Power. The former is an Android 2.3 Gingerbread phone with a 4.3-inch touchscreen, and a 1.2GHz, dual-core Texas Instruments processor. Despite boasting a slim, 7.8mm chassis and an attractive, waterproof body, this specification barely provided the phone with the power to compete with devices from Samsung, Apple and HTC.

The Eluga Power could have been a bigger success, as it has a 5-inch, high definition touchscreen, a dual-core Snapdragon S4 chip, Android 4.0 and IP57 water and dust proofing. A true competitor to the Galaxy Note, then.

Both phones could be purchased through online retailers, but Panasonic never appeared to sign any deals with UK networks. While this isn’t quite as important as it is in the US, it would have been essential for Panasonic to re-connect with buyers and promote its new phones.

Evidence of trouble brewing came when the firm told TechRadar.com in August that it was selling its two phones “to consumers in Germany and Italy and currently does not have any plans to change this.” A report in The Times around the same time said Panasonic had put its European smartphone plans on hold, and “looked likely to abandon its mass market ambitions.”

The smartphone market is tough, but Panasonic’s potential exit could be directly related to the $7.6 billion bailout given to it by Japanese banks this month after record losses, rather than any failure to perform following its half-hearted attempt to break back into Europe.

Source : http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/panasonic-could-be-about-to-leave-the-european-smartphone-market/

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Panasonic pulls out of the European mobile game… again

But it can't fail! It's waterproof!

Panasonic's decided that if it can't make it in nine months, it'll never make it in the European mobile market. So it's pulling out. Again.

According to Japanese newspaper Nikkei, the company has decided to discontinue mobile sales in the European market by spring 2013.

It was December 2011 when Panasonic announced that it was going to give Europe another go, and it unveiled the Panasonic Eluga at MWC 2012 the following February.

Fruity

The newspaper column cites the dominance of Apple and Samsung as a major cause for its pull-out.

Apparently Panasonic plans to focus more on partnerships in Japan rather than eyeing world domination.

The Panasonic Eluga's luke-warm reception was thanks in-part to its distinctly average performance (we gave it three stars) and the fact that a higher-specced edition was announced before it even hit Europe's shop shelves. But it is waterproof, so there is that.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/panasonic-pulls-out-of-the-european-mobile-game-again-1107661

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Panasonic dropping TVs for iPad screens?

The 145-inch 8K Super Hi Vision just made an appearance

Several reports surfaced Tuesday that Panasonic, makers of everything from home appliances to cameras to security systems, plans to exit the television market.

According to Reuters, the corporation will stop production of LCD and plasma TV panels next year, focusing instead on small and midsize panels for products like tablets.

Citing Nikkei, a Japanese stock market index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Reuters said the company's plasma TV sales are expected to plummet by half to 2.5 million units while its LCD sales will show minimal year-on-year growth.

It's unlikely Panasonic will return to profit this fiscal year, Reuters reported.

Down but not out

Though TV isn't turning a profit for Panasonic, the company has reportedly set its sights on another market - one that thrives on screens intended for portable devices.

That market is apparently more profitable than TVs, especially since customers like Apple dominate with high-selling items like the iPad.

The Japanese firm has apparently already sent some high-resolution LCD panels Apple's way, and one Panasonic source said Apple "seems to be satisfied" with what it saw.

With screen production issues plaguing Apple from its last, Retina-packed iPad to the iPhone 5, it'd come as little surprise if the tech giant brought another firm under its wing.

TechRadar has reached out to Panasonic for comment on these reports and will update this story if and when the company responds.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/television/panasonic-dropping-tvs-for-ipad-screens-1104910

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Panasonic dropping TVs for iPad screens?

The 145-inch 8K Super Hi Vision just made an appearance

Several reports surfaced Tuesday that Panasonic, makers of everything from home appliances to cameras to security systems, plans to exit the television market.

According to Reuters, the corporation will stop production of LCD and plasma TV panels next year, focusing instead on small and midsize panels for products like tablets.

Citing Nikkei, a Japanese stock market index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Reuters said the company's plasma TV sales are expected to plummet by half to 2.5 million units while its LCD sales will show minimal year-on-year growth.

It's unlikely Panasonic will return to profit this fiscal year, Reuters reported.

Down but not out

Though TV isn't turning a profit for Panasonic, the company has reportedly set its sights on another market - one that thrives on screens intended for portable devices.

That market is apparently more profitable than TVs, especially since customers like Apple dominate with high-selling items like the iPad.

The Japanese firm has apparently already sent some high-resolution LCD panels Apple's way, and one Panasonic source said Apple "seems to be satisfied" with what it saw.

With screen production issues plaguing Apple from its last, Retina-packed iPad to the iPhone 5, it'd come as little surprise if the tech giant brought another firm under its wing.

TechRadar has reached out to Panasonic for comment on these reports and will update this story if and when the company responds.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/television/rumor-panasonic-planning-tv-production-pullout-1104910

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Panasonic launches world's thinnest laser projector module

The future of projectors?

A prototype of the world's slimmest 100-lumen laser projector module has been spotted in Japan.

The laser projector module (or OIU, as Panasonic prefers to call it) throws out a picture at 800x480-pixels. That's not too impressive, but considering the device is just 75mm thin, it's a wonder Panasonic could fit any processing power in there at all.

Also on display was a scan-type OIU, which manages a resolution of just 400x300-pixels. Again, it's far from finished, especially considering Panasonic wants to shrink it down and install it in mobile phones.

But this tech is quite interesting. It's different from normal projectors in that it doesn't need focussing. The light doesn't travel through an LCD filter like regular projectors, and instead is just one single laser beam producing the image.

Early days

It's still early days with this tech. And as ever with a new technology, the devices are too bulky at the moment (relative to when they'll be on sale, anyway) and crazily expensive.

But if the resolution improves and the price comes down, we could see a whole new era of pico projectors hit the shelves.

Samsung is the only company to have launched a mobile with a built-in projector in the UK. The Samsung Galaxy Beam is a neat piece of kit, with great battery life and a decent camera. But it's too expensive, and the projector really struggles in daylight.

Will projectors one day be as common as cameras in phones? We'll have to wait and see.

Via Engadget

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/home-cinema/projectors/panasonic-launches-worlds-thinnest-laser-projector-module-1101839

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