Panasonic recently made an announcement that they would be officially withdrawing from the consumer smartphone market. $15 billion worth of losses is nothing to sneeze at and is probably the main reason why Panasonic are doing so. While they tried to expand in Europe last year from March 2012, the attempt didn't come out as planned. Kazuhiro Tsuga, President of Panasonic had this to say:
"it's not acceptable for the company to be bleeding red ink like this, so we have to think about ways to develop assets that we do have in a more effective direction."
Panasonic will continue to sell consumer handsets in emerging markets (like Malaysia) but won't be making the devices themselves. Rather, the brand will be Panasonic but the manufacturers will be different. In related news, Panasonic may still be developing a Toughphone like their now famous Toughbook line of notebook computers, which may or may not see the light of day. No news on Malaysia release dates or pricing just yet but we will keep you posted.
COMMENTS