Intel, Mitsubishi may announce mobile phone alliance
By Bloomberg News
May 16, 2000, 10:05 a.m. PT
TOKYO--Intel and Japan's Mitsubishi Electric said they will announce a joint development project tomorrow in Tokyo in what could be a mobile phone alliance.
John Antone, president of Intel Japan, and Michio Nakanishi, president of Mitsubishi Electric's communications systems division, will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. in Japan tomorrow, the companies said in a release.
"Until now, the relationship between the two companies had remained within the bounds of ordinary business, with Intel supplying products to Mitsubishi," said Mitsubishi spokesman Toshio Masujima. "We haven't been involved in any joint projects before."
Masujima declined to say what the project was about.
On Feb. 28, shares in Mitsubishi Electric, a chipmaker and a maker of mobile phone handsets, rose as much as 9.7 percent after reports said that the two companies would form a mobile phone alliance.
According to the reports, Intel will supply Mitsubishi with microprocessors for portable information terminals and with advanced chips for a cellular phone under development.
Mitsubishi will provide Intel with technology to connect cell phones and base stations that will allow the company to hasten development of chips for advanced cellular phones.
Following the reports, Intel said it will set up a research center for new mobile phone technologies with three Japanese companies--personal computer software developer Justsystem and computer network integrators Access and Cybird. PacketVideo, a U.S. multimedia company that develops software for mobile phones, also will participate.
At the time, Intel executives declined to confirm any alliance with Mitsubishi.
Mobile phones are rapidly becoming the preferred medium for accessing the Internet in Japan, as more people use them to check information on Web sites, send email, trade stocks, and make bank transfers online.
Copyright 2000, Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved.
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