Marubeni, a major Japanese conglomerate, has been hammering out a joint venture on laptop computers with AT&T in the US. A source told Newsbytes that the laptops are equipped with a radio transmitter or radio modem. Japan’s Matsushita Electronics will supply its laptop computer parts to the joint venture firm, which will assemble them at an AT&T plant in the US. Marubeni will also co-operate in the sales of the laptop computers. To start, they are expected to be built around 80286-based IBM-compatible laptop computers. The new as yet unnamed company will be owned 60% by AT&T and 40% by Marubeni. AT&T has confirmed the talks with Marubeni, and says such a deal would enable AT&T to get a positive response from Japanese suppliers The computer may be available as early as next year.
