German manufacturer Siemens AG invested a 15-percent stake in San Diego-based Neopoint Inc., the maker of a CDMA smart phone that integrates a personal digital assistant and mobile phone.
The investment will give Siemens much-needed expertise in Code Division Multiple Access technology. The vendor’s U.S. subsidiary, Siemens Wireless Terminals, ended its CDMA handset development effort last year and later stopped selling Global System for Mobile communications handsets in the United States.
Siemens said its investment in Neopoint facilitates the continued rapid expansion for Neopoint in the global wireless marketplace and underscores Siemens’ ambitions to secure a 10-percent share in the global mobile telephone market. The company is also rumored to be interested in purchasing Qualcomm Inc.’s CDMA handset division.
The European GSM handset provider is enhancing its business with data-capable devices. The company said its strategic investment in Neopoint will allow it to provide global coverage in the product business and play a leading role in the anticipated convergence of European and American mobile communications standards.
Siemens said it already has sold around 12 million GSM handsets in the current fiscal year, compared with 6 million the previous year. It estimates sales of 20 million handsets the next fiscal year.
