Re: CASIO, VODAFONE, NTT DOCOMO
CASIO, VODAFONE IN VENTURE TO DEVELOP WIRELESS PALM-SIZED INTERNET DEVICES BY YUZO YAMAGUCHI
Bloomberg Technology News Tue, 01 Feb 2000, 5:12pm EST
quote.bloomberg.com
Tokyo, Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Casio Computer Co., Japan's largest maker of digital watches and calculators, and Vodafone Airtouch PLC of the U.K. will join to develop palm-sized wireless Internet devices, benefiting from the growing handheld computer market.
The devices, which will be available in autumn, will include a personal organizer, the ability to access the Internet, listen to music, send and receive electronic mail and, in the near future, view video clips of film previews and sports highlights. Initially, users will need to connect the device to a digital mobile handset to access the Internet though future versions will come as a single unit.
Casio and Vodafone are both betting on the continuing growth in demand for handheld computers with advanced capabilities similar to those of desktop models. The worldwide market for handheld computers is expected to exceed $7.2 billion by 2003, growing more than fourfold from $1.6 billion in 1998, according to Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner Group Inc. ''Casio can take advantage of the wireless radio technology provided by Vodafone,'' said Katsuhiko Sugiyama, an analyst at Paribas Capital Markets Ltd.
U.S.-based 3Com Corp., whose Palm Inc. electronic organizer unit hopes to raise $368 million through a share sale slated for this month, is currently the market leader.
Mobile Market
Tokyo-based Casio, which generates more than a third of sales from watches, is shifting its focus to handheld computer and cell phone businesses as price cuts and ebbing volume demand cut earnings from its G-Shock watches, the product that propelled record earnings in the year ended March 1998.
Casio is the maker of Cassiopeia, a palm-size PC that runs on Windows CE. The company has joined with NTT Mobile Communications Network Inc., better known as NTT DoCoMo, to produce the Cassiopeia for DoCoMo, an electronic organizer that can connect to the Internet through an NTT DoCoMo mobile handset.
Casio has sold 300,000 Cassiopeia devices worldwide, 30 percent domestically. The unit is the second-most popular handheld mobile computer in Japan. Rival Sharp Corp.'s Zaurus handheld unit is the market leader in Japan with sales of two million units since its debut six years ago.
For Casio, whose group earnings fell 55 percent to 2.3 billion yen in the first half ended Sept. 30, the venture is its second entry into the European mobile Internet market. Casio in December said it had reached agreement with Siemens AG of Germany to develop wireless Internet devices.
The devices, based on the Windows CE operating system, a slimmed-down version of Microsoft's Windows software that runs 90 percent of the world's PCs, will be unveiled this month in Germany.
Casio shares fell 8 yen to 866. The agreement with Vodafone was announced after exchanges in Japan closed. <<
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