Vodafone and Toshiba teamed up to market 3G handsets

The world's largest cellular operator Vadafone announced that it had agreed a strategic partnerships with Toshiba to market a range of handsets in Europe, Australia and Japan, according to The Financial Times.

Initially, they will start with the shipping of TS 921 3G handset in Europe, also known as V903T in Japan.

For Toshiba it will be an opportunity to break out of its domestic market, which accounts for 40m handset sales a year, and enter the European market, which is more than three times larger than Japan, with 148m phones sold every year.

The TS 921 is Toshiba's first 3G handset based on UMTS standard. The group currently has a 10% market share in Japan, where it is hamstrung by not having a relationship with NTT DoCoMo, the dominant mobile phone operator.

Japanese mobile handset makers are desperate to enter the global mobile phone market, because their domestic market witnesses a decline in sales. Now, with a global spread of 3G standards, they have this chance. They will learn from Toshiba's attempt how to export their products to the West as they need to address many factors, including localization of their handsets.

Vodafone will ship the V903T 3G handset in Japan in April this year. The handset features USB connectivity, Bluetooth, PC Link, IrDA, Video output, QR Code reading, etc.

Vodafone highlights the following main features of the Vodafone 903T:

• Active Turn Style design for enjoying a variety of viewing styles in different situations
• Auto focus 1.92 megapixel mobile camera
• Twin stereo speakers for greater enjoyment when listening to long version Chaku-Uta musicdownloads and ringtones
• Fully supports Vodafone 3G services
• International roaming support for seamless voice, mail, web and video call services