NEC jumps into MP3 game

The company may not have much of a presence in North America, but apparently NEC is huge in its home of Japan. Adding to the recent launch of some LaVie laptops and uber-slim cell phones, NEC now wants a big slice of the MP3 pie as well. The company recently had a chat with Jiji Press in Japan, expressing its interest in jumping into the portable audio player market.

It seems that the company has been planning this move for some time already, as the first MP3 player from NEC is set to hit the market some time this month. It is said that NEC’s first foray into the MP3 game will also include the ability to play and record videos, so it’ll be unlikely to find a tiny sub-512MB flash player. Perhaps NEC has its eyes set on tackling the 30 or 60GB iPod Video… who knows.

According to company reports, NEC plans on some arrangement that directly links its new players to its computers. Unfortunately, it looks like NEC MP3s are going to be Japan only for now.