The Eluga, which stands for Elegant User Gateway, will form the "centrepiece that will connect all Panasonic devices". It weighs 103g and is 7.8mm thick, featuring a 4.3-inch screen.
It announced in Hamburg that it hopes to sell 1.5 million Eluga phones across Europe in its first year, and 15 million globally by 2015.
The Eluga, which is waterproof and dustproof, will be based on Google's Android platform and will launch from April at a price of around £400 (S$794). Panasonic said it will continue to focus on the expensive, more profitable end of the mobile market for future models.
Panasonic currently claims more than 20 per cent Japanese market share in mobile phones, and is the United Kingdom market leader in 'ruggedised' products. It hopes its mobile phones will build on the success of products such as its Toughbook laptop.
Panasonic's European chief executive and chairman Laurent Abadie said that the firm was right to launch now because while just 32 per cent of European consumers own smartphones, when the global market grew 47 per cent.
Although the latest Google Android phones run version four of the company's software, codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich, the Eluga will launch in April running version 2.3, and subsequently be upgraded over the summer.
ORIGINAL SOURCE
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