Panasonic just created a new $10 million budget for its new corporate shopping list in the areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning Technologies (MLT). The Japanese technology giant is looking at these two streams as the future beacon of change and development, for its handset business unit which currently faces an immensely competitive market in the country. The $10 million budget has been set aside for either creating joint-ventures with other enterprises, or perhaps even acquiring a few smaller ones.
Pankaj Rana, Panasonic’s head of mobility division in India, South-Asia, Middle-East, and Africa commented, “The budget is in tune of $10 million to start with and as we see progress on this front and things go in right direction, then there will be no constraint on the budget part. We can spend as high as possible. Some part of this budget has been generated from the India business, while some portion has been allocated from Japan.”
The latest developments from Panasonic have a timeline of the next 6 to 9 months, within which new handsets with these capabilities will be launched. They will also be having a group of executives to visit Silicon Valley, for looking into the MLT and AI market, while also fixing the proportion of budgets to be allotted from Panasonic Japan and Panasonic India.
When quizzed about Panasonic’s current position in the market, Pankaj Rana said, “In the mobile phones we are still 2-year-old company. And, people don’t connect with us as a mobile phone company. We don’t want to say that we are a primarily mobile phone company. We want to be called a technology company in near future. AI is the future of Panasonic. We want to integrate all future technologies based on AI.” The name for the AI feature on the smartphones is ‘Panasonic AI Assistant’, which will help users customize their experience, based on their usage pattern. In recent times, Robin has entered the Indian market, that boasts of AI capabilities on their handset; any excess data is automatically stored into a secure cloud environment, but on the basis on how the user uses his/her handset.
Because Home Automation is also catching up big time in the world of technology, including the control of appliances, lighting, security and surveillance through smart devices, Panasonic is looking to get a stronger footprint in the direction. It is one of the ventures where the Japanese company remains a veteran with its existing product portfolio.