While the popularity of smartphones has made a lot of companies very rich — mostly Apple and Samsung, according to the most recent market figures — others have struggled to make it in this highly competitive space. Take, for example, Panasonic Corp., which can barely move devices outside of its native Japan.
Indeed, it's very rare to see a Panasonic-made smartphone appear in North America, despite the fact that the company can — and does — produce devices competitive with top of the line devices from Apple, Samsung, HTC and Nokia. Meanwhile, Panasonic has tried its best to re-enter the European market in recent with devices like the Panasonic Eluga, but with how fierce competition is, it hasn't been easy.
Unfortunately, it seems Panasonic isn't even safe anymore in Japan, based on its recent decision to stop supplying new smartphone models to NTT Docomo, Japan's largest mobile carrier. According to sources close to the matter, Panasonic smartphones sales declined sharply from April to June due in part to a shift in NTT Docomo's marketing strategy, which offers bigger discounts for smartphones made by Sony and Samsung.
In particular, the carrier has been focusing its marketing efforts on Sony's Xperia A and Samsung's Galaxy S4, two popular high-end devices.
image via digitaltrends.com
Up until this shift, NTT Docomo had more or less been the sole marketing channel for Panasonic's smartphones. In other words, if the company halts supply to NTT Docomo, it will stop developing smartphones altogether.
The electronics manufacturer will continue smartphone production for the time being at its Malaysian factory, but if NTT Docomo stops placing orders, the operation will be discontinued.
While it's always unfortunate to see a promising competitor leave a market, it's possible this may be the best move for Panasonic, which posted a group operating loss of around $55 million for its cellphone business in the April to June period.
Edited by
Ryan Sartor
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