Mobile telephony: the Japanese NEC disclaims

Business: The Japanese manufacturer of mobile phones officially threw the sponge. Absent abroad and gradually crushed (5% of market share) on its national territory, NEC ceases his activity and will produce more smartphones.

For the Japanese manufacturer NEC, adventure in the mobile telephony sector is definitely over. The Group has formalized this activity stopped, acknowledging the failure of its strategy in the field of smartphones, including the Japan where the manufacturer has fallen to 5% market share.

In a statement, NEC emphasizes that "the mobile market has changed dramatically" and that it is "difficult to foresee an improvement" of its performance in the future in a sector where "the economies of scale are more important" in terms of competitiveness.

NEC was in big trouble with growing losses. In April 2012, after a deficit of almost 900 million euros, Japanese manufacturer had especially to reduce its workforce by 10%, or 10,000 employees, mainly in the Japan.

But if NEC was able to reduce its costs, it is not pierced on the very dynamic segment of smartphones, ultra-dominated by Apple and Samsung. During the last fiscal year, the Japanese company has thus delivered only 2.9 million smartphones, although far from its forecast (4.3 million). And sales still continued to deteriorate, reported Les Echos.

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Key figures: sales of mobile and smartphones