Good news for Panasonic in the last 48 hours. The company announced yesterday that it now officially turned Sanyo into a subsidiary after acquiring a 50.27% stake in its smaller rival. The merger was in the making for several months, and Panasonic paid a whopping $4.4 billion to make it happen. So we now have Japan’s second largest electronics maker in terms of sales (Hitachi is still the… → Read More
Woo! It’s finally over with. Panasonic has completed its acquisition of Sanyo, which has been in the works for some time now. Hopefully it’s a good thing for Sanyo, and I’m sure we’ll see Sanyo branding for a long time to come. Just thought you should know. → Read More
Sanyo is in the news today, and again it’s about the company’s green tech power. The company today announced [JP] it will do everything to become Japan’s top player in the domestic solar industry by 2012 and eventually one of the top three solar companies on a global level. At the same time, the Nikkei reports [registration required, paid subscription] that Sanyo has succeeded in developing a… → Read More
I know this thing looks like a …curling iron, but it’s not. The so-called Stick Booster [press release in English] is Sanyo’s newest addition to it’s ever-growing series of green, “eneloop”-branded products. You can use it to battery-charge your mobile devices. → Read More
The deal has been in the making for months now, but yesterday Panasonic finally announced a tender offer for Sanyo Electric, paving the way to convert Sanyo into a wholly owned subsidiary as early as the middle of next month. → Read More
Short version: An excellent casual HD camcorder with superior image quality to pocket cams and a flexible focus system, making it useful for bloggers like me as well. At under $200 this thing is absolutely a steal. → Read More
Yesterday I lamented Apple’s decision to establish its own video standard, which, while little more than a suggested resolution and bitrate, does not fit will with any devices anywhere. The steady progression of VGA or WVGA, 720p, and 1080p are perfectly fine for the moment. That’s why every camera in the world shoots to one of them. 1080p is too much for most people to work with, but 720p isn’t… → Read More
Good for Sanyo Japan that the word “portable” isn’t really strictly defined in the projector space. Because I have no idea why the company calls its new projector, the LP-XM150 announced today [press release in English], portable: The thing weighs 9.7kg. Last month, Sanyo presented a device that somehow deserved the name, as the LP-XU106 weighs just 4kg. → Read More
Sanyo has today announced a new mobile projector for the Japanese market, the LP-XU106 [press release in English]. The device is the brightest in its weight class (under 4kg), producing a respectable 4,000 lumens. It’s sized at 334.2×257.5×78.4mm and weighs just 3.4kg. → Read More
Sanyo has been offering Xacti camcorders shooting 720p video (1280×720) for quite a while now, and today Sanyo Japan announced the DMX-CG11 [JP], another (enhanced) 720p model. The new device features a mini HDMI interface and Eye-Fi support. → Read More
Casio Japan unveiled [JP] two new Exilim point-and-shoot cameras today, the EX-Z450 and the EX-Z90. The main selling point of the devices is the ability to detect objects (not only human beings) and to then automatically set the focus and exposure area to give you high-quality pictures.
The EX-Z90 can be considered weaker than the Z450. It features a 12.1MP sensor, a 2.7-inch LCD screen, 3x… → Read More
The swine flu (aka H1N1) isn’t really a hot topic anymore (when compared to the situation a few months ago), but it still remains a big problem. Today Sanyo of all companies made an announcement in Tokyo (press release in English), claiming their “electrolyzed water technology” has proven to be actually effective in fighting the nasty virus. → Read More
Sanyo added a few new products to its successful eneloop brand of “green” electronics today [JP], i.e. a hand warmer, a battery-powered and extra-warm blanket and a neck warmer. The coolest new product is the eneloop portable solar, a portable solar panel that’s sized at 174(W)×204(H)×26(D)mm. → Read More
Sanyo landed a huge hit with its eneloop brand that includes a number of “green” products, such as lamps, batteries or even Wii controllers. In the past few months, the company also introduced electric bikes that featured eneloop technology, one of which it wanted to sell outside Japan as well.
Now Nippon gets another two eneloop-branded bikes [JP], a carbon fiber model and a foldable bicycle. → Read More
Sanyo Japan today announced the strange, vase-like “eneloop lamp” [press release in English] that can be used both as a regular interior light or as a flashlight (when you pick it up and hold it like one). As a third option, the device also serves as a “healing lamp” once you switch from white to blue lighting.
The eneloop lamp can be charged wirelessly by putting it on its charging stand. Sanyo… → Read More
Sanyo seems to now entirely focus on projectors targeted at professional customers and businesses. After announcing a $6,000 Wi-fi enabled projector last month, the company today said in Japan [JP] it’s about to roll out two additional models with some great specs. → Read More
Today Sanyo Japan announced a new high-end projector, the LP-WXU700 [JP], which is the world’s first WiFi-enabled projector supporting the IEEE802.11n standard (and thus the fastest). Sized at 334.2×78.4×257.5mm (weight: 3.6kg), the device is marketed by Sanyo as a mobile projector. → Read More
In Japan, Sanyo is not only known as a maker of home electronics and eneloop, rechargeable batteries, but also as a maker of home appliances. Their Aqua AWD-AQ4000, which will go on sale in Nippon only on June 1 [JP], is the fourth in a series of washing machines that feature a built-in ozone generator to deodorize and disinfect laundry. → Read More
Sanyo has released a new “eneloop”-branded and battery-assisted bicycle [JP] that’s aimed at people (in Japan only for the time being) wanting to replace motorbikes and mini vehicles with a “green” alternative. The so-called CY-SPG226′s battery is powerful enough to let the bike travel about 85km with a single charge (which takes 3.5 hours). → Read More
As far as picture quality in home cinema goes, nothing can beat laser projectors, which use lasers as light source. And today, Sanyo in Japan made another leap forward by unveiling a new model that boasts 7,000 lumens [JP], which is the world’s highest brightness level. → Read More
Electric bikes are becoming more and more popular in Japan as top electronics brands such as Panasonic, Toshiba and Yamaha are rolling out new models monthly.
In December last year, Sanyo announced an electric bike and said it may even be exported to overseas markets soon. Today, the company said [JP] that from March on, the local government of Tokushima Prefecture in Southern Japan will get… → Read More
Sanyo’s compact line of Xacti Dual camcorders was refreshed this morning with five new models. The high-end DMX-HD2000 and DMX-FH11 are the only two that shoot 1080p resolution video. Like Xactis before it, these two also take still photos that are approximately 8 megapixels even when recording video. They can be interpolated up to 12 megapixels as well when not shooting video. Both have a 10x… → Read More
Sanyo Japan today unveiled its newest projector, the PDG-DHT100JL. Boasting 6,500 lumens, the device is the brightest among all 2-lamp full HD 1-chip DLP projectors on the market. → Read More
Most surveillance cameras have two problems: They only deliver pictures in black and white or/and feature super-low resolution only, sometimes even producing basically useless footage.
But now Sanyo in Japan is selling the VCC-HDN1(S) [JP], a full HD network surveillance camera that’s based on Xacti technology. For example, it’s using the same image processing engine built into the Xacti… → Read More
There were some hiccups along the way but now the deal between Panaosonic and Sanyo (announced on November 3) seems to be perfect. Goldman Sachs and Sanyo’s other major shareholders have agreed to sell their shares to Panasonic, Japanese media are reporting today. Panasonic will acquire a 70% stake in Sanyo for $1.50 a share in February, resulting in a $6.4 billion deal, the largest of its kind… → Read More
Andrew Grove, former Intel Corp chairman, is pushing the world’s biggest maker of microprocessors to diversify business by becoming a manufacturer of advanced batteries for plug-in electric cars. This emerging industry is attracting Chinese and Japanese companies like BYD Motors, Panasonic, and Sanyo. According to an Intel spokesman, Intel already has investments in battery-related… → Read More
The SANYO R227 will make your life easier by finding you the stations you want to listen to while you pretend to work. As Sanyo’s vice president, Tom Van Voy states, the device needs no tethering to a computer. It seems that it has an own database for Internet stations. Oh, and it looks quite ugly. You have to wait until January to get one for $169.99. The styling is very evocative of those… → Read More
Panasonic is trying to sweeten the deal on the Sanyo buyout offer it proposed back in November 7th by offering ¥140 per share instead of ¥130. They must really want to settle this. In order to completely take over, Panasonic must buyout the 3 largest shareholders. Goldman Sachs, owner of a 29 percent stake, exited merger talks after seeking at least ¥250 per share. Both other firms, Daiwa… → Read More
Sanyo today unveiled the Eneloop electric hybrid bike [JP], which will be on sale in Japan in early February 2009. The company is following Toshiba, Yamaha (Yamaha even sells two bikes) and Panasonic with their new addition to its Eneloop series of particularly “green” electronic products. The bike is powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and harnesses energy from braking when… → Read More
Panasonic is looking to lay out more than $5 billion to take a controlling stake in Sanyo. What does the consumer tech giant see in the smaller, less successful company? Diversification. Panasonic has had great success in consumer tech but has no division for solar tech and only a limited stake in electric vehicle batteries. For Sanyo it’s vice versa — they’re each the… → Read More
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