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Nokia and Sanyo to Focus on CDMA2000 Market

7:00 am on February 15, 2006 | Category: Business, Mobile Devices

Sanyo and Nokia announced yesterday that they would collaborate on forming a new company to pursue the market for CDMA2000 mobile phones.

The new venture will begin operations in the third quarter of this year, and employ a total of about 3500 employees. Its main operations will be based in San Diego and Japan.

Unconfirmed reports are saying that Sanyo will be the majority shareholder in the new common company, but Nokia has a lot to gain from this regardless of their exact share. It will help the worldâ€™s biggest handset maker strengthen its position in the CDMA2000 market, where it has traditionally been weak.

“We identified this new entity as the best way to create an attractive CDMA phone portfolio for our customers with the widest possible product offering at the high-end, mid-range and entry levels,” said Nokia CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, in a statement.

“We estimate that the creation of this separate, associated company will provide Nokia with financial benefits from the start. It also offers both parties timely access to R&D competencies that complement their own internal strategies,” he added.

The products of this new alliance will be targeted towards customers in the US, and also in several developing countries, where Nokia is anxious to increase its lead.

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