By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
Samsung Electronics has reached a milestone in the U.S. mobile phone market by securing the top spot among leading vendors for the first times since it entered the U.S. in 1997.
In contrast, LG Electronics fell to third place in what the company claims is its strategic and key market. Though the world's No. 4 handset maker has been aggressively marketing several smart phone line-ups there including Venus, Voyager and Dare.
In the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30, Samsung posted a market share of 22.4 percent to become the No. 1 handset manufacturer in the U.S., according to Boston-based research firm Strategy Analytics.
At the same time, Schaumburg-based Motorola fell to second place with a 21.1 percent share during the quarter. Motorola, which had been the top vendor in its home-turf since 2004, suffered a drastic market share drop from 32.7 percent a year before. LG ranked third with 20.5 percent.
Analysts and industry watchers say Samsung, which trails behind industry leader Nokia worldwide, has been offering carriers a full portfolio of devices, from high-end products such as the touch-screen Instinct, messaging phones Blackjack I, II and Glyde, to lower-end phones given free to customers who sign up with a particular carrier.
"The growing retail presence and high-tier handset models appealed to all four big operators," the research firm said, adding Motorola now faces challenges in the U.S. as it doesn't have a product in the smart-phone segment.
About 30 percent of mobile phone shipments in the U.S. are smart phones that have e-mail and Web surfing functions.
Samsung is fully set to selll its newest Omnia phones, which run Windows Mobile 6.1, with Motorola planning to introduce a smart phone operating Windows Mobile 6.5 by the second half of next year, along with a device backed by Google's Android open-source software.
During the July-September period, handset shipments in the U.S. ― the single largest cell phone market ― defied economic gloom and grew 6.2 percent from a year before to 47.4 million phones, driven by attractive bundling schemes from operators and aggressive pre-stocking by distributors ahead of the holiday season.