By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter
LG Electronics is raising its bet on music phones in emerging nations, while focusing on touch-sensitive phones in developed nations.
The company said Wednesday that it is releasing two types of mid-end handsets specialized in playing music in Asian and Latin American countries such as China, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Brazil and Chile.
As their economies grow, more consumers in those developing countries are planning to replace their low-end handsets with more advanced and expensive ones, the firm said.
``Aiming at the rapidly increasing demand in new markets, we will continue to release products that are based on our insight as to the customers' needs on design and functionality,'' Skott Ahn, executive vice president of LG's mobile division, said in a press release.
LG is the world's fourth largest mobile phone seller after Nokia, Samsung Electronics and Motorola ― and is beginning to threaten Motorola's position.
According to market research firm Gartner, LG shipped 23.6 million handsets in the first quarter of the year, up from 16 million in the same period last year. Nokia, Samsung and Motorola respectively sold 115.2 million, 42.4 million and 29.9 million.
A large part of LG's sales increase came from the popularity of its touch-screen phones such as the Viewty. And it should look to other types of phones, Gartner suggested.
``LG capitalized on the attention the market has given to touch-screen devices since the launch of the Apple iPhone,'' the research firm said in its report. ``Although the LG Prada, Shine and KF600 models have proved popular, LG must remember that touch-screen phones do not appeal to everyone. The South Korean vendor needs to build a stronger smart-phone portfolio, as consumers and operators have started to place more emphasis on this market segment.''
LG has already been following this kind of advice. In a press conference held last week, chief executive Nam Yong said that he is sending staff from the firm's audio device and PC divisions to its handset division so they can help build phones with better music and computing functions.
The firm especially believes that its stylish music phones will appeal to consumers of developing countries, where the population is younger than developed countries. For example, the KM710 model has a touch-sensitive wheel for easy fast-forwarding or rewinding songs. Another model, the KM 380, is capable of 40 hours of music storage, the firm says.
``With these music phones we will continue our growth momentum in the new markets where we grew by 36 percent in the first quarter,'' the firm said in a release. The firm cited a report from market research firm Strategic Analytics, which said that some 293 million owners in the new markets will buy new phones this year.
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