March 4, 2008 at 3:49 am · Authored by Julia · Filed under Devices

It seems that companies are pulling out of mobile phone manufacturing like ninepins. First Sanyo went, then Lenovo sold its mobile phone arm and Motorola said it might divest itself of its handset division - now it seems Mitsubishi is next to resign from the world of device making.

According to reports, the company is selling off its operations to Kyocera and redeploying its mobile workforce to other areas in the company, blaming tough competition for the move. And tough it is, if the rash of exits is anything to go by, with Reuters quoting analysts as saying there’s more mergers and selloffs on the way.

But it’s not all grim news in the device world - Apple and ZTE proved last week new and old manufacturers alike can make a device business work in this tough climate.