Sales of Shine Phone to Hit 10 Million in 2008
By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
LG Electronics is positive that accumulated sales of its ``Shine’’ phones will hit 10 million during the third quarter of this year, thanks to brisk sales in emerging markets.
``The 10 million mark will be broken sometime during the third quarter,’’ an LG spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The bar-type slider made an international debut in 2006 in line with the company’s promotional strategy to change ``cheaper’’ images of LG-branded handsets into ``premium’’.
Since its debut, nearly 5.7 million Shine phones had been sold by the end of last year _ 1.3 Million in Europe, Central and Latin America, 1 million in North America and 800,000 in local sales, according to the company.
``More than 800,000 Shine phones have been sold per month, centering around Asian, Central and Latin American and African emerging markets, along with the traditional regions of North America and Europe,’’ the official added.
The world’s fifth-largest handset manufacturer after Nokia, Samsung Electronics, Motorola and Sony-Ericsson, plans to aggressively promote its half-premium model with greater focus on the Latin and Asian markets.
``LG aims to achieve 2.5 million in accumulated sales in the Latin American market this year alone,’’ the official said.
The Latin American market certainly offers promise for LG, and its decision to more than double the number of handsets it sends to the region only signals the company’s focus on emerging markets.
The recent launch of 3G services in Brazil and Argentina and the rapidly expanding mobile penetration in Chile, Columbia and Peru are giving a chance for the company to create a bigger presence in the mid-to-high end products market, while China and India lead the increasing demand for the phone in Asia.
``We will increase the number of overseas markets from the current 60 to 80 within the year, focusing on emerging markets because Shine models will replace Chocolate models soon,’’ the official said.
LG, which has been accelerating efforts to overtake the No. 4 Sony-Ericsson by injecting more capital for the promotion of its ambitious 5.1-megapixel Viewty phone, said a month earlier that its Chocolate phone hit 15 million in accumulated sales in two years ― a record on the mobile phone market.
The company is set to unveil four handsets in a few months to broaden its portfolio beyond its premium fashion phones.