After moving out of the U.S. market and making a name for itself in the high-end phone business in Europe and Asia, electronics giant NEC Corp. is reopening its U.S. mobile-phone operation.
NEC America Inc. will begin selling its advanced 515 GSM phone this summer with an unnamed carrier. Pricing for the color-screen, Java-capable phone has not yet been disclosed, but NEC America’s Adrienne Campbell said it will sell for less than $400.
NEC stopped selling its line of TDMA phones in the United States about two years ago. Campbell, the marketing and communications director for NEC’s wireless division, said the company decided to focus its efforts elsewhere while U.S. carriers refined their network plans. “We decided to step outside the market when carriers were planning their migration strategies,” she said. “We focused our efforts on Europe and Asia.”
Campbell said NEC decided to focus on GSM technology in order to enjoy the widest possible distribution. Now that most U.S. carriers have solidified their network upgrade plans, however, NEC is ready to re-enter the market.
The company plans to release three new models during the next year. NEC will start with the high-end 515 this summer, followed by the 525 model sometime thereafter. The 525 features an integrated digital camera, a color screen and Java capabilities, and is selling today through China Mobile. Campbell said the phone’s price and availability have not yet been decided.
After the release of the 525, Campbell said NEC will sell a mid-tier phone. She said the exact model has not yet been decided.
That NEC will re-enter the U.S. market is notable since the company has a significant amount of high-end phone experience. NEC commands a solid portion of the advanced Japanese market and is also offering two models through Hutchison’s 3 UMTS service in Europe.
According to Strategy Analytics, NEC is the 10th-largest mobile-phone seller in the world, controlling 1.9 percent of the global market. The company sold 8.3 million phones last year.
