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Wireless Federation » archive for 'Kyocera'

15% dip in Capacitor prices says Kyocera (Japan)

  • July 30th, 2008
  • 12:15 pm

Japan Kyocera Corp revealed that its US mobile unit Kyocera Wireless Corp and its mobile phone operations it bought from Sanyo Electric are unable to achieve profit for the full year. They expected capacitor prices to fall 15% in 2008-09.

Sanyo confirms talks on sale of mobile unit to Kyocera

  • October 15th, 2007
  • 3:07 pm

Sanyo Electric has reached a basic agreement with Kyocera to explore selling its mobile phone business. Kyocera has priority negotiating rights for the mobile business and both companies will assess the value of the unit and work towards a sales agreement. Sanyo has decided to refocus its business following losses at its mobile unit. The sale would comprise the the entire mobile manufacturing business (excluding Tottori Sanyo Electric and Telecom Sanyo), PHS handset and base station business (which is becoming a WiMAX business). Sales for the unit totalled JPY 277 billion as of end-March 2007. Sanyo said it still may decide to establish the mobile phone business as a new independent company. The companies did not disclose a price but a Nikkei report says Kyocera offered almost JPY 70 billion for Sanyo’s mobile business, outbidding rival Sharp.

   

Sanyo confirms talks on sale of mobile unit to Kyocera

  • October 12th, 2007
  • 11:21 am

Sanyo Electric has reached a basic agreement with Kyocera to explore selling its mobile phone business. Kyocera has priority negotiating rights for the mobile business and both companies will assess the value of the unit and work towards a sales agreement. Sanyo has decided to refocus its business following losses at its mobile unit. The sale would comprise the the entire mobile manufacturing business (excluding Tottori Sanyo Electric and Telecom Sanyo), PHS handset and base station business (which is becoming a WiMAX business). Sales for the unit totalled JPY 277 billion as of end-March 2007. Sanyo said it still may decide to establish the mobile phone business as a new independent company. The companies did not disclose a price but a Nikkei report says Kyocera offered almost JPY 70 billion for Sanyo’s mobile business, outbidding rival Sharp.

   

Alcatel-Lucent, Kyocera team for WiMAX mobile broadband (USA)

  • September 26th, 2007
  • 11:27 am

Alcatel-Lucent and Kyocera Wireless have signed a joint development agreement to co-operate on the development of WiMAX-based mobile broadband products. These products will integrate Alcatel-Lucent’s WiMAX network infrastructure with wireless end-user devices from Kyocera. These Kyocera devices will include multimedia mobile phones, non-traditional wireless devices, wireless PC cards and USB devices. The joint programme will cover the establishment of specifications, development and integration of WiMAX solutions, and the creation of an interoperability testing (IOT) programme to ensure that the new Kyocera WiMAX devices can operate smoothly on Alcatel-Lucent’s infrastructure. Commercial availability of WiMAX base stations and terminals from the partners is expected in first half 2008. The agreement expands and formalises an existing WiMAX co-operation agreement between Alcatel-Lucent and Kyocera.

   

KDDI, Kyocera, others set up WiMAX joint venture (Japan)

  • September 19th, 2007
  • 2:45 pm

KDDI, Intel, East Japan Railway, Kyocera, Daiwa Securities Group, and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, have agreed to invest in a joint venture, Wireless Broadband Planning (WBP). The joint venture has been established to bid for the 2.5GHz frequency band for Mobile Broadband Wireless Access System (BWA). Should the joint venture win a licence, it will quickly develop and operate a wireless broadband network based on mobile WiMAX technology.

Under the agreement, WBP intends to commence license application procedures for BWA base-stations based on mobile WiMAX technology. Should the company be successful in obtaining a license, the company plans to swiftly launch a mobile wireless broadband business. WBP intends to become a global leader in the development and deployment of innovative services based around mobile WiMAX, and also intends offering these services globally through roaming agreements. Furthermore, WBP also sees opportunity for creating new market segments in co-operation with MVNOs.

   

Leap launches unlimited mobile internet service (USA)

  • September 18th, 2007
  • 1:19 pm

Mobile operator Leap Wireless International has launched its Cricket Wireless Internet Service in the Nashville, Albuquerque and Santa Fe markets. The service will enable customers in these markets to have unlimited mobile internet service through their laptops for a flat rate per month with no long-term commitments or credit checks. Cricket will be utilising the Kyocera Passport KPC650 modem, along with Smith Micro connection software, which are compatible with PC and Mac laptops with Windows 2000 or higher and Mac OS 10.4.10 or higher and a PCMCIA slot. The monthly service plan ranges from USD 35 to USD 40.

   

Kyocera to Acquire Sanyo Mobile Unit (Japan)

  • September 17th, 2007
  • 8:11 am

According to the Nikkei, via Reuters, Kyocera and Sanyo are close to inking a deal that would merge the device makers into the world’s seventh largest mobile phone manufacturer. The business daily stated Kyocera aims to buy Sanyo’s mobile phone operations for about 50 billion yen ($435 million), Sanyo expects to sell about 11 million units in the current business year to March 2008, down from its initial estimates of 12.5-12.6 million. Both Kyocera and Sanyo said in separate statements that nothing has been decided.

The on-going saga should come as no surprise for those who have been following this story over the last 18 months. The companies announced a deal during 3GSM in Feb. 2006 only to have it called-off a few months later. As we had mentioned in the WWJ newsletter - Year of the Pig Shaping up as Golden - under the “Handset maker shake-down, dust-up and consolidation” section:

We expect 2007 will see more consolidation among Japanese device makers as they hit 2006 fiscal year-end (March 2007) and try to figure out what to do about all the red ink. This market cannot really hope to continue supporting 12 handset makers - especially in the face of increasing entry competition from foreign makers - unless and until they start selling their lovingly hand-crafted high-end models overseas as well as domestically - and band together to achieve some economy of scale.

Still have to wonder if Kyocera has managed to find a strong third player, ala NEC, Panasonic and Texas Instruments, to make things really interesting.. Hello Moto?!?

   

 

 

Qualcomm Wins Stay of Chip Import Ban (USA)

  • September 14th, 2007
  • 6:45 am

Seven mobile phone companies can temporarily continue importing handsets and other wireless devices with Qualcomm 3G chips, a federal appeals court said Sept. 12.

The ITC (International Trade Commission) ordered a ban on the products June 7 after determining Qualcomm infringed on a power-saving patent held by Broadcom.

But in a rare legal victory this year for San Diego-based Qualcomm, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ordered a stay of the ban for third parties using Qualcomm chips since Broadcom, of Irvine, Calif., had filed the ITC complaint against only Qualcomm. The court made no determination on the validity of the Broadcom patents or Qualcomm’s infringement.

The decision does not affect ITC’s order banning Qualcomm itself from bringing infringing chips into the United States. The import ban includes baseband processor chips that comprise Qualcomm’s core suite of enhanced multimedia and convergence handset platforms.

Qualcomm, meanwhile, will continue to pursue the appeal of the ITC’s order and seek a reversal of the underlying infringement finding. When the ban was issued, Qualcomm, in addition to its appeal, unsuccessfully sought a White House reversal of the order.

The original ITC ban affected all future cell phones, PDAs, broadband cards and other similar devices intended for consumer use. However, the ITC excluded existing models of such devices from the ban, allowing cell phones already on the market to continue to be sold.

“We are pleased that the Court of Appeals recognized the undeserved harm to parties who were not named in the lawsuit, and that our customers will continue to be able to introduce new products into the U.S. marketplace during the appeals process,” Alex H. Rogers, Qualcomm’s senior vice president and legal counsel, said in a statement.

Third parties freed of the ban pending Qualcomm’s appeal include AT&T, T-Mobile, Motorola, Kyocera, Samsung, Sanyo and LG Electronics. In granting the stay, the appeals court said the third parties demonstrated “a substantial case on the merits and that the harm factors weigh in their favor.”

Verizon Wireless skirted the ban by signing a licensing agreement with Broadcom in July. Sprint Nextel imports and sells cell phones that use alternative power-saving technology.

Broadcom’s Senior Vice President and General Counsel David Dull said in a statement, “We look forward to an expedited process in the appeal and believe that the stay will be lifted for all parties.”

The bitter dispute between Qualcomm and Broadcom spans a number of infringement and antitrust lawsuits and countersuits.

In May, a Santa Ana, Calif., federal jury ordered Qualcomm to pay $19.6 million for willfully infringing on three Broadcom patents. The presiding judge then doubled the award and ordered Qualcomm to pay Broadcom’s legal fees in the case. A decision on Broadcom’s request for a permanent injunction on products using the three patents is expected later this month.

   

 

Qualcomm wins stay on banned phones (USA)

  • September 13th, 2007
  • 11:37 am

Qualcomm has won a partial victory in an appeal of an International Trade Commission ban on the import of certain Qualcomm products. As part of a patent infringement suit brought by rival Broadcom, certain Qualcomm chips and the mobile phones that use them were banned from import in the US since June. Qualcomm has now obtained a stay on the ban for importing phones, pending the outcome of its broader appeal in the suit. Third parties applying for the stay will be able to import phones using the Qualcomm chips; these include Samsung, T-Mobile USA, LG Electronics, AT&T, Sanyo Fisher, Motorola and Kyocera. Broadcom had filed the complaint in the ITC against only Qualcomm, leading Qualcomm and the third parties that are “downstream users” to argue that the ITC lacked the authority to issue an order excluding products imported by persons other than Qualcomm. Qualcomm will continue to pursue the appeal of the ITC’s order and seek a reversal of the underlying infringement finding.

   

Kyocera Router Adds EVDO Support

  • June 14th, 2007
  • 3:58 pm

Kyocera Wireless has announced a free firmware update for its KR1 Mobile Router to support a variety of EV-DO Rev.A devices. The KR1 Mobile Router is a universal accessory that is compatible with most EV-DO PCMCIA cards, ExpressCards as well as USB-enabled devices and EV-DO handsets.

“Clearly now that EV-DO Rev. A network deployments are more widespread, there is going to be increased demand to use that performance boost with a variety of devices, such as Kyocera’s KPC680 ExpressCard,” said Lee Ittner, executive vice president, global sales and marketing at Kyocera Wireless Corp. “This simple firmware update for the KR1 Mobile Router offers professionals and home users alike the ability to create and share the broadband wide area connection that Rev. A enables.”

The Kyocera KR1 Mobile Router takes a single CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rel. 0 or Rev. A connection and creates a mobile Wi-Fi hot spot using 802.11b&g technologies, allowing connectivity for multiple PCs. A cost-effective alternative to traditional networks, the KR1 Mobile Router target users are said to include mobile work groups such as dispatch teams, consultants and road-warrior sales groups.