TOKYO-Mitsubishi Electric Corp. announced it will quit the European mobile-phone market due to pressures from heavyweights like Nokia Corp., Motorola Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. The company said it will discontinue phone sales after it has sold all of its current models, but will continue to provide after-sales service and customer support.
Mitsubishi said it will close its mobile-phone research and development subsidiary, Melco Mobile Communications Europe S.A., which is based in France and counts 156 employees. The company will take a $38 million charge for the shutdown.
Mitsubishi is not the only company to suffer defeat at the hands of handset players like Nokia and Motorola. Indeed, Toshiba Corp. recently withdrew from the Chinese mobile-phone market citing similar reasons, according to reports.
