Fujitsu To Merge Smartphone And Wearable Technology Businesses

Fujitsu‘s its mobile phone and PC peripheral businesses will merge as a response to the growing influence of the ‘Internet of Things’.

Fujitsu  Mobile-phones Products Limited and Fujitsu Peripherals Limited will be combined by 1 April, according to a statement the company issued with its third quarter financial results. The company says it wants more “human centric” technology, like a mobile workstation launched in November 2013, that scans the unique pattern of the blood veins in the palm of the hand for user authentication.

Closer ties

The company’s peripherals division already manufactures tablets and PC peripherals alongside its current smartphone offerings, and Fujitsu predicts the move will help its smartphones to “take many different forms” and reach new markets.

“As the smartphone market rapidly changes and as the border between smartphones and PCs blurs, Fujitsu believes that it is important to shift away from handset manufacturing that relies on conventional mass production”, it goes on to say. “It is necessary to apply a quick and flexible approach that breaks the current mould of what a smartphone is and meets the needs of customers.”

The integration is intended to boost product development at Fujitsu, with the company hoping to double productivity from its current levels thanks to optimising the manufacturing process. Part of the staff from the mobile phone activities will be re-assigned to other areas, such as enterprise solutions and automotive-related businesses, in order to promote its Fujitsu Mobile Initiative.

Fujitsu said it will record the financial impact of the restructuring in its fiscal fourth quarter ending in March 2014. The company’s third quarter results showed consolidated net income of 12.0 billion yen ($114 million/£69 million), an improvement of 92.8 billion yen from the loss recorded in the third quarter of fiscal 2012.

Net third quarter sales totalled 1,200.7 billion yen ($11,435 million/£6,936 million), a 14.5 percent increase from the same period in 2012, thanks mainly to a 24.6 percent rise in sales worldwide (excluding Japan).

Helped by its restructuring efforts, the company moved to an operating profit of 26.1 billion yen, versus a loss of 5.9 billion yen a year ago, meaning a net profit of 12.0 billion yen versus a loss of 80.8 billion last year.

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