Sanyo out of mobile phone business

You know, we’ve always been fans of the Sanyo Katana. Yeah, it’s basically a rip-off of the RAZR, but we saw so many damn people carrying them when it first came out — as well as a billiondy commercials for it — that we got sick of it real quick. Once we saw the Katana, we saw an alternative, and one which we thought was superior in its own way. Now, though, Sanyo is ditching the mobile phone portion of its business. No, it’s not completely folding, but rather changing ownership. Meet Kyocera, soon to be the No. 7 producer of mobile phones worldwide.

There are few details of this deal, mainly because it’s not finalized yet. Sanyo had realized many losses from this aspect of the business, so selling it off makes total sense. It’s not like they had a shoddy product line; it’s just that few U.S. carriers picked up their phones.

So now Kyocera, a company we’re not too enthralled with, takes over. Honestly, the only experiences we’ve had with their phones have left us with a poor impression. They’re flimsy, and not the most functional phones. Maybe the acquisition of Sanyo will help them boost handset quality.

Or maybe Sanyo should have just bought Kyocera.

[Reuters]

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2 Responses

1. Bill McMinn Says
   

   Many Canadian CDMA carriers used Sanyo phones for their walkie talkie services, where will they go for phones?

   
   Posted on January 15th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
2. Sanyo sells handset unit to Kyocera | Prepaid Reviews Says
   

   [...] you may want to subscribe to the the feed.Way back in October, it was revealed that Sanyo would be exiting the mobile phone business. The speculation was that they’d sell their mobile division to Kyocera, whose handsets you [...]

   
   Posted on January 21st, 2008 at 11:30 am

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