LG to Promote ‘Viewty’ Phone in Emerging Markets
By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
Despite growing worries over profit risks, LG Electronics is going ahead with a rather ``bold’’ and ``confident’’ move to narrow the gap with global competitors in the rapidly growing premium mobile phone market with its latest 5.1 megapixel camera phone.
On Sunday, LG Electronics said it will bolster the presence of its ``Viewty’’ phone by the end of the year in 18 countries including Asian markets such as Hong Kong, Singapore, India and Malaysia, as their improving economy is boosting demand for high-end electric gadgets.
``We expect sales of GSM handsets, including 3G phones in Asian emerging markets and even in South Africa, to reach 10 million this year, up 75 percent from a year ago, as consumers shift to multi-functional handsets from old-fashioned CDMA phones,’’ LG said.
Code-named LG-KU990, the sleek phone will be showcased during the four-day ``GSMA Mobile Asia Congress 2007’’ fair in Macau from Monday to Thursday.
LG Electronics’ pricey phone is equipped with an image stabilizer and manual focus, and is capable of downloading up to 3.6 megabits of data per second. It also has a built-in photo-editing program, allowing users to touch up their photos on a three-inch LCD touch screen.
LG is in a ``survival game’’ with Samsung Electronics. A month ago, LG introduced the phone in 14 European countries including Germany, France, Italy and Spain via major carriers, while the ``Viewty’’ also provides upward momentum for the company in China, where LG takes up only about 13 percent of the market for the CDMA phone industry.
Data from Strategy Analytics shows demand for camera phones will rise to 1.02 billion by 2011 from 500 million in 2006, while sales of over 5-megapixel camera phones are likely to reach 202 million by then from 4.6 million last year.