Panasonic could stop making mobile phones for sale in Europe in the next six months, according to sources, Reuters reports.
Why? The Japanese giant isn't making any money from mobiles. Kazuhiro Tsuga, Panasonic's boss, has pledged to cut parts of the business that aren't profitable, with a restructuring plan expected by the end of March.
Panasonic only launched mobiles in Europe earlier this year, with its Eluga and Eluga Power handsets. (It sold mobiles around the world previously, but stopped doing so in 2005.) Analysts estimate Panasonic has pumped around £500 million into its mobile arm, with the company aiming to sell 1.5 million smart phones this financial year. As recently as December Panasonic said it wanted to increase mobile phone sales to 15 million by March 2016, with overseas accounting for 9 million of those.
Reuters' sources have said that's probably not going to happen.
Despite the tough economic climate, Panasonic estimates it'll have an annual operating profit of 260bn yen, which is just over £2bn. That might not seem that much for a company of this size, but it's still better than some.
On Wednesday it'll release its results for the quarter ending 30 September.
The Eluga and Eluga Power didn't set the world alight, but they are both waterproof, which should be handy considering what a typical British winter is like. The Eluga Power comes with Android Ice Cream Sandwich, and packs a 5-inch screen too, riding the trend for bigger blowers.
As you'd expect from the company that makes the ace Lumix range of compact cameras, the in-built imaging tech on both handsets is pretty great as well.
Will it be a shame if Panasonic stops selling mobile phones in Europe, or wouldn't you notice? Let me know what you reckon in the comments below, or on our Facebook page.
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Comments 7
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anonymous 28 October, 2012 15:50
They should just stick to making vacuum cleaners and microwave ovens. The smartphone segment is frankly beyond their reach with giants like Samsung occupying the top table.
Sad to have to admit, but Panasonic are going the way of Sony and Nokia as the also-rans in the global tech contest.
Patrick Cantellow 28 October, 2012 15:52
Every time I hear about Panasonic making phones, i still have to make sure, I mean we have there microwave, but isn't that what Samsung does as well?
damien2501 28 October, 2012 17:14
They also make great TVs
Leszcz 29 October, 2012 10:46
I wouldn't mind their phone I just don't see them in shops
anonymous 1 November, 2012 13:55
Panasonic is not able play a better role in the mobile marketing, its better for that company to stop making the mobile phone and start concentrating more on the television market.
anonymous 1 November, 2012 13:56
Panasonic is not able play a better role in the mobile marketing, its better for that company to stop making the mobile phone and start concentrating more on the television market...
Mobile Phones
anonymous 3 November, 2012 16:58
Panasonic never sold the Eluga Power in Europe! They just kept announcing the device, last word before they decided to withdraw from the European market was "Eluga Power coming in October".
And unfortunately the only device they did sell in Europe, the small Eluga, didn't have a good camera at all, hell it didn't even have a simple LED flashlight! It sported outdated hardware inside, was extremely sluggish, had only 8GB of RAM with no SD card slot, and the update from Gingerbread to ICS came four days ago. They kept feeding customers with expectations they weren't willing to fullfil in the end. No wonder nobody bought the phone.