TOKYO—Matsushita Communication Industrial the leading mobile handset maker in Japan, plans to increase its handset development engineers from 3,000 employees to 4,500 by March 2004 to become the top mobile handset maker in the world 3G market, the head of the company said earlier this week.
Matsushita is the largest handset maker in Japan with 26-percent market share, but in the global market, it garners only 5.2 percent. However, by fully using its 3G know-how developed through its work with NTT DoCoMo and its close ties with NEC Corp., Matsushita hopes to win 30-percent market share in the global 3G market.
Matsushita and NEC on Aug. 26 agreed to merge for 3G handset development. Upon the deal, both firms will jointly develop a common platform and architecture for 3G handsets.
