The alliance between Sony Corp. of Japan and L.M. Ericsson of Sweden is giving the two companies hope they have a chance to trump Nokia Corp. as the supreme player in the mobile- phone market. But similar alliances in the past have been failures.After...
Sony of Japan is holding talks with Sweden's L.M. Ericsson on merging their handset divisions, hinting at what some analysts perceive as a possible trend in the industry.Both companies recoiled from revealing details on the talks, a deal from which would promise to leverage...
Three major wireless vendors gave mixed signals last week as Nokia Corp. posted a profit, while Nortel Networks Inc. and L.M. Ericsson reported losses in tune with market consensus.Both Nortel and Ericsson deepened the bleak news with new rounds of layoffs; Nortel firing 5,000...
LONDON-According to a study by Strategy Analytics Inc., Flextronics Inc. will become Western Europe's second largest cell phone manufacturer with 34.5 million units, or an 18.4 percent production share, in 2001.Neil Mawston, an analyst with Strategy Analytics, said, "Flextronics will grow its European production...
NEW YORK-Not surprisingly, the number and size of mergers and acquisitions for which a dollar value was made public declined markedly in all industries when compared to the same period a year ago, Los Angeles-based Mergerstat reported.Announced transactions involving U.S. companies totaled 2,224, down...
Motorola Inc. mixed memory with some cheer in its first-quarter results last week as it reported its first loss in 16 years amid hopes of a rebound in the second half of this year.The phone maker declared that the economy is in a recession...
NEW YORK-With NEC Corp. and Sony Corp. serving as "trend setters" among their in-country peers, Japanese electronics equipment companies are poised to follow the lead of their American and European competitors toward contract manufacturing, said Peter McGowan, managing director of the Lehman Brothers Inc....
LAS VEGAS-The world's leading mobile-phone makers launched an extensive array of new devices supporting a range of new technology last week, including GPRS, Bluetooth and full-color displays-moves the companies hope will garner more customers and counteract sluggish phone sales.Nokia Corp., Motorola Inc., L.M. Ericsson...
SAN DIEGO-Contract manufacturers are beginning to reshape the global plastics industry, according to a senior official with Flextronics International Ltd.Paul Santina, vice president of business development and global plastics for the Singapore firm, is speaking from experience. Flextronics has grown at bullet-train speed, from...
HELSINKI, Finland- Nokia Corp. has selected subcontractors to supply its 3G equipment around the world.The subcontractors are Skanska Telecom networks and Flextronics Network Services in Sweden; Boke and Walterfang GmbH and Pfleiderer AG in Germany; Landis Public Networks B.V., Electro Zwijsen-Mourik B.V. and Electron...
L.M. Ericsson left an ironic trail last week.It extolled its third-generation technology while surrendering its phone-making business and posting a fourth-quarter loss that limped behind expectations.The Swedish company outsourced its phone-making business to Singapore-based Flextronics International Ltd. in an admission of delivery failures from...
The year is ending on a bleak note for Motorola Inc. after it cut its fourth-quarter sales and earnings expectations, causing its stock to hit a new 52-week low and sending a tremor throughout the market to other telecom and technology companies.The No. 2...
As handset makers continue to stretch their resources in the three digital technologies and future 3G technologies, they are finding an increasing need to outsource a portion of the business.L.M. Ericsson, struggling for profitability in its handset business, has turned to outsourcing lower-end handsets,...
SINGAPORE-Electronics manufacturing and design services provider Flextronics International Ltd. and Chatham Technologies Inc., an integrated electronic packaging systems supplier to the communications industry, signed a definitive merger agreement for a tax-free, stock-for-stock merger.The merger agreement provides that Flextronics will issue a total of up...
NEW YORK-Manufacturers increasingly are planning to outsource production as more companies transition to the virtual manufacturing model, according to a recent Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. study.A substantial number of electronics manufacturers plan to outsource a collective average of 72 percent of production, a...
NEW YORK-Airspan Networks Inc., a British designer of fixed wireless communications systems, went public on Nasdaq July 19, raising $82.5 million in an offering of 5.5 million shares priced at $15 each.Credit Suisse First Boston was lead manager of the deal, which was increased...
NEW YORK-Motorola Inc. and Flextronics International Ltd. signed an outsourcing agreement valued at approximately $30 billion under which Flextronics will supply and manufacture certain parts and units for Motorola's wireless phones, two-way pagers and wireless infrastructure, the companies announced.The deal is expected to affect...
ChinaMotorola Inc.'s Network Solutions Sector was awarded a $14.5 million contract to install a Global System for Mobile communications 1800 network in China. The contract, signed with Shangdong Mobile Communications Corp., calls for Motorola to deploy the new network in four cities in Shangdong...
Omnipoint Communications began a trial of high-speed wireless data technology using L.M. Ericsson's General Packet Radio Services solution. Ericsson's GPRS equipment is installed at network facilities in Wayne, N.J., serving Omnipoint's New York metro area. Omnipoint said it plans to extend the scope of...
SAO PAULO, Brazil-Qualcomm do Brasil S.A., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Inc., announced a new Qualcomm phone manufacturing facility in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with initial manufacturing capacity of about 300,000 phones per year.Qualcomm said the facility will begin producing Code Division Multiple Access dual-mode handsets...
Bouygues Telecom chose the partnership of Nokia Telecommunications and Dassault A.T. of France to provide a DCS 1800 cellular system in northern France. Nokia and Dassault will provide base stations, base station controllers, operation systems, cellular transmission equipment and antennas. In addition, the pair...
