NEC and Panasonic team up for cell phones

It was announced back in July, but now their partnership is official. NEC and Panasonic have joined forces in an effort to compete in the mobile phone market, establishing a joint venture. This new company will be called ESTEEMO, and it will be responsible for “the development of a common software and hardware platform.”

If you’re wondering about the origin of this new name, they’re saying that it is a combination of the words “esteem” and “mobile”, indicating that the two partners have “mutual esteem for each other.”