7,000 of these jobs will be lost in Japan and in case you want to know, NEC has around 115,840 last year in March, so there are plenty of people to spare. Don’t worry, as NEC isn’t going down just yet, since it’s in a joint venture with NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic, Samsung and Fujitsu. And on the computer segment they have the NEC Lenovo alliance, that should generate enough profit to keep them floating. To be honest, NEC had an interesting product at some point, the MEDIAS N-04C shown above, that was the thinnest smartphone in the world for quite a while.

Right now NEC is not a brand that anyone knows or appreciates in the phone biz, so they have to make a big name for themselves. Also, I suppose they only sell products locally, so maybe an expansion to Europe and the USA is welcome. As long as they focus on that ultraslim design and throw in a decent camera and Android they have a good shot…

This is a Gingerbread device that resembles the design of the N-04C, although it’s 0.2mm thicker and adds 10 grams to the weight of the slimness champion. Also, touch buttons will be used instead of the physical ones on the N-04C. As far as specs are concerned, you get IPX5 and iPX7 waterproof ratings, a 1GHz chip and 14Mbps FOMA download.

The waterproof certification means that you’ll be able to immerse yourself up to one meter with the phone and still be able to use it. NEC MEDIAS N-06 comes with a 4 inch 480 x 854 pixel LCD, 1GB of RAM and 512MB of RAM. A 5 megapixel camera and WiFi complete the specs list and we have no info on the release date right now.

NEC Medias is officially the slimmest 3G smartphone out there and its specifications are also pretty hot. Also known as NEC Medias N-04C, this device will be sold by local Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo and it will reach stores on March 15. Here’s the specs list of this phone that weighs only 105 grams:

• Display: 4 inch, LCD touchscreen, 480 x 854 pixels, Gorilla Glass
• OS: Android 2.2 (Gingerbread coming this summer)
• Camera: 5.1MP, CMOS sensor
• Connectivity: 3G/GSM roaming, GPS, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, WiFi, HSUPA, infrared
• Memory: microSDHC card slot
• Other features: i-mode, 1Seg digital TV tuner, e-wallet

The Medias will be available in black and white and you can see this incredibly slim piece of technology in the video below. Price is yet unknown.

For the moment, NEC Casio Mobile doesn’t make smartphones, so this will be a big move for them and they hope to have 50% of its sales made out of high end devices by 2012. Also, the venture estimates reaching about 6 million units by that time, through international sales.

Interestingly enough, the first to get the new Android device will be the Americans, in March 2011, followed by the Japanese public by the end of the summer. As far as the C771 specs are concerned, we know that it should feature a touchscreen, accelerometer and compass, but that’s all we got from the FCC right now.

There’s also a full QWERTY keyboard among the specs, plus a trackpoint-style pointer, WiFi and 3G connectivity. A microSD card slot is in board too, as well as a 3.1 megapixel camera and a batter that should provide 350 minutes of talk time.

No info on the price, but we know that this baby is coming to NTT DoCoMo in August.

[via Engadget]

The new handset maker will include NEC, with 71% stakes, Casio, with 20% and Hitachi, with 9%. NEC Casio Mobile also wants to go international in an aggressive way and it targets the American market specially.

There’s a 200% increase in sales that the company wants to reach in the markets outside of Japan, with North America being one of them by the end of 2011. In fiscal year 2008, the three companies shipped 8.9 million units, 1.5 million of which reached the international market.

[via mobilecrunch]

Unit sales have decreased dramatically (30% less last year), maybe because of the depression or maybe because of the aging population. Among the companies considering an expansion outside Japan’s borders we must mention NEC and Panasonic, who are willing to export their best phones.

In NEC’s case this is a comeback, since the company used to sell products internationally, but stopped doing so in 2006. Now, the manufacturer wants to enter the European market in Q3 or Q4 2010 and they have big plans: 1 million phones sold in the first 12 months. If the devices created by NEC look anything like the one above (NEC 931N), the European public will surely like them.

This phone comes with a rotating 3 inch touchscreen display, an 8 megapixel camera and a 54Mbps connection. Panasonic is also set to follow the same path, because of the local shrinking sales, but we haven’t seen any announcements from them yet.

[via mobilecrunch]

What’s impressive about the device is that it comes with 3 different styles: Touch Style, Share Style and Communication Style. N-01A’s huge display has 2 swivelling modes: the 180 degrees one, which makes the device a normal slider and the 90 degrees one that turns it into a mobile TV, as it features a 1Seg tuner as well.

This swivelling angle will also allow perfect web browsing and taking photos in good quality. Start looking for this phone in Japan from November 21, in NTT DoCoMo stores for a yet unknown price.

[via Unwired View]