With a combined share of over 20 percent of the Japanese handset market, a joint cellphone venture between NEC, Hitachi and Casio might be a wise move for the companies, which are struggling in an increasingly saturated domestic market. So reports that the three have decided to consolidate their mobile-phone operations aren’t wide of the mark at all.
Like Godzilla’s occasional rampages through Tokyo, the econalypse’s effect on Japan’s consumer electronics industry has been almost casual in its devastation, with Sony, NEC and Hitachi all announcing massive job cuts in the past few months. Today, Panasonic joined them. Hard hit by the global recession, Japan’s biggest consumer electronics company this morning warned of a $4.2 billion annual loss and said it plans to sack about 15,000 workers.
If there’s an award to be given for most layoffs handed out by a technology company in a recession, NEC may have just won it. This morning, the Japanese electronics giant said it will sack at least 20,000 workers world-wide as it struggles to shore up its business amid the worsening econalypse.
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper. Read more »
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
12:58 AM: Breakfast: Two schools of fish from Tokyo Bay. Calories: 782,000. How I was feeling when I ate this: confused, irradiated, hating my size.
11:37 AM: Exercise: “Taxi Stomp” (alternating legs, for 30 blocks). Calories burned: 148,900,183.
1983. The Beatles announce their first tour in thirteen years, but likewise announce that Michael Jackson will be going on tour with them as a one gigantic mega-concert event.
Best video mashup ever.
A Facebook Memorial
Wow.
Worth it for the Rickrolling photo alone.
Excellent.
Flughumor!
… you vacuous, toffee-nosed, malodorous perverts
Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine meet the kakapo — a fat, flightless and very randy rare parrot.
D is unlike any other executive conference. Since its debut in 2003, D has brought to life the energy and excitement of the digital revolution in an unscripted, upfront and unparalleled way. Read more »
Don't miss a post! Sign up for our Daily Email and get AllThingsD.com delivered each day.
Get columns, blogs and video from D and All Things Digital on your iPhone. Download now »
