Casio’s WCDMA move

With the number of WCDMA users accelerating throughout the globe, Casio decided that it was time to start producing 3G phones compatible with UMTS standard as well.

Having entered the handset business in 2000, Casio initially acquired licenses from Qualcomm to make CDMA One and CDMA2000 1x/EV-DO mobile phones. The company was shipping CDMA handsets to KDDI domestically and to South Korea internationally. However, in February 2006 the company expanded the licensing deal with Qualcomm to cover handsets, supporting the rest of 3G pack -- WCDMA and TD-SCDMA technologies. With this deal, Casio will have an opportunity to target at any 3G operator in the world, not to mention NTT DoCoMo and Vodafone in Japan. The question though is how successful will it be in this endeavor?

Source: Casio press release (Japanese)