Casio and Hitachi to form a joint venture for mobile handset production

Casio Computer and Hitachi announced the intention to form a new joint venture for mobile handset produciton that should start working in April. The primary reason to do this is the growing costs of multimedia handset development (primarily their software) as well as the need to increase sales volumes outside Japan.

According to provisional information, Casio will own 51% of the new venture that will have initial capital of about ¥3 billion (about $27.3 million), while Hitachi will get the remaining 49%.

As you know, NEC and Matsushita Electric are the current mobile handset market leaders in Japan. At that neither Casio, nor Hitachi Industrial is among the top 5. The joint venture is expected to save funds on the development and support of unified multimedia platform for handsets with built-in digital cameras, while the new solutions will be made and sold separately under different brands.

The new venture is expected to provide vacancies for 350 specialists, and the president will be "provided" by Casio.

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