Panasonic redials smartphone plans beyond Japan

Panasonic is planning to make a comeback with its smartphones outside of Japan in 2012. This is after the Japanese consumer electronics giant pulled out of the overseas mobile phone markets in 2006.

The devices, which will run on Google's Android mobile operating system, will feature networking capabilities with other Panasonic products. The Japanese firm will sell its smartphones in Japan next year before making inroads to overseas markets in 2012.

"We misjudged the speed at which smartphones would be taken up in the Japanese market," Panasonic's head of mobile communications, Osamu Waki, said at a news conference today, according to Reuters.

Waki added that the company noted the rising popularity of Android and wants "to catch up quickly".

Panasonic has revised its forecast sales of between 5.4 and 5.5 million units in Japan to 15 million units globally by 2015.

(Source: Crave Asia)