NEC and Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic) may establish a joint venture to develop software for cellular telephone handsets, the companies said Tuesday.No further details of the talks or envisaged venture were available. However, the Tuesday-morning edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business newspaper said the venture will be established in October. By working together, the two companies are hoping to reduce the cost of software development for phones, which represents about 70 percent of the expense of developing a new handset, the newspaper said.NEC and Panasonic are two of Japan’s biggest cellular phone makers, and a tie-up between the two companies would make sense. Of the top-tier handset makers in Japan, the two companies are the only ones exclusively selling Linux-based third-generation (3G) cell phones. Other major Japanese handset makers are using the Symbian OS for their 3G handsets. The two companies were also among the founding members of the Linux Phone Standards Forum.Earlier this year the companies said they were in discussions with Texas Instruments to set up a three-way joint venture to design, develop and manufacture chips and other components for cell phones. Those discussions are continuing, an NEC spokeswoman said Tuesday. -Martyn Williams, IDG News Service (Tokyo Bureau)Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content brandpost Sponsored by SAP What goes well with Viña Concha y Toro wines? Meat, fish, poultry, and SAP Viña Concha y Toro, a wine producer that distributes to more than 140 countries worldwide, paired its operation with the SAP Business Technology Platform to enhance its operation and product. By Tom Caldecott, SAP Contributor Dec 04, 2023 4 mins Digital Transformation brandpost Sponsored by Azul How to maximize ROI by choosing the right Java partner for your organization Choosing the right Java provider is a critical decision that can have a significant impact on your organization’s success. By asking the right questions and considering the total cost of ownership, you can ensure that you choose the best Java p By Scott Sellers Dec 04, 2023 5 mins Application Management brandpost Sponsored by DataStax Ask yourself: How can genAI put your content to work? Generative AI applications can readily be built against the documents, emails, meeting transcripts, and other content that knowledge workers produce as a matter of course. By Bryan Kirschner Dec 04, 2023 5 mins Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence feature The CIO’s new role: Orchestrator-in-chief CIOs have unique insight into everything that happens in a company. Some are using that insight to take on a more strategic role. By Minda Zetlin Dec 04, 2023 12 mins CIO C-Suite Business IT Alignment Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe