Networking Solutions, Eco-Friendly: LGs Keywords in CES
LG Set to Steal Limelight With 430 Strategic Products
By Kim Yoo-chul
Korea Times Correspondent
LAS VEGAS ― It seems LG Electronics urgently needs additional momentum in its ongoing strategy shift from being a ``product supplier'' to ``solution provider.''
For the cross-town rival of Samsung Electronics, this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) might be a great chance to display vigorous transformation efforts to existing and potential clients.
LG is set to go one step further, aiming to introduce content-rich and tech-featured gadgets at the world's biggest consumer electronics trade fair.
``Showing the latest and most striking products is just a small but important part. We will embrace this show as an opportunity to boost our image as a `solution provider,''' Chun Myung-woo, vice president of the company's corporate communications team, told The Korea Times.
The 2009 International CES will feature more than 2,700 exhibitors introducing the latest consumer technology products in 30 product categories, including digital entertainment, high-performance audio, digital imaging, electronic gaming and more, according to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).
CEA is a pre-eminent trade association promoting growth in the estimated $175 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry.
This year, the world's most influential technology show will run from Jan. 8 to Jan. 11 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
CEA expects the show to attract some 130,000 attendees, down from 141,150 in 2008 and 10 percent from two years ago, mainly due to the deepening global credit crunch.
Strategic Partnership for New Biz
As exclusively reported by the Korea Times, LG created a business solutions division in December ― the core of LG's reorganization and focus on business solutions for tomorrow's challenging environment.
Previously, LG launched ``LG Commercial Product Division'' in the United States to boost organizational ties.
The division is tasked to provide display products and solutions suited to hotels, hospitals and larger shopping malls, spokesman Kim Jik-soo said.
As for future efforts, LG said its 2009 line-up of networked Blu-ray players will include video streaming features from CinemaNow and YouTube, as well as with its existing content partner, Netflix.
``The products will be displayed at the CES and we think the launch timing is exquisite,'' Kim added.
LG said the future of the company's Blu-ray disc players will also offer consumers more than 12,000 choices of movies and TV episodes from Netflix to enjoy, as millions of U.S. consumers view and download movies or TV shoes through the Internet, indicating a need for more home entertainment options.
``The YouTube partnership offers access to everything,'' according to the spokesman.
The alliances come after LG and Nasdaq-listed LodgeNet Interactive sealed a partnership to develop a series of in-room interactive applications based on the Pro:Centric standards-guided applications platform.
LG officials said its new technology is well-designed to support applications such as program guides, games, Web services and other applications for better communication for hotel guests.
``As far as I know, our chief technology officer, Paik Woo-hyun, will unveil more details of our TV-related technology at the show,'' a high-ranking LG official said, adding its top-level officers are scheduled to hold a series of meetings for the development of more tie-ups in solution-related segments.
According to data from DisplaySearch, a market research firm, North America is estimated to account for more than half of the $3.4 billion global display business-to-business market this year.
Analysts say consumer electronics purchases will get a new push in the coming months ― in wake of increased consumer demand ― for networking from imaging and mobile devices.
``We can say the next wave of consumer electronics purchasing will center largely on the home use of digital cameras, photo frames and mobile phones,'' another market research firm, Parks Associates, wrote in a note to clients.
``Our survey of U.S. consumers found that nearly 50 percent of U.S. households with broadband want a digital camera with networking capabilities and nearly 40 percent would like a networked digital photo frame,'' according to the firm, adding the survey reflects a growing significance of solutions.
Eco-Friendly Products
With many big names rumored to be backing out or opting for off-site meeting rooms rather than booths because of the economy, some analysts say the show will become smaller, less grandiose and have less foot traffic.
Still, CES is expected to deliver a number of exciting announcements.
Although electronics manufacturers are still talking about megapixels, megahertz and megabytes, the industry has been recognizing that even in electronics, going ``green'' could be a powerful marketing tool.
LG is actively riding the trend because it will launch a newly developed super slim liquid-crystal display (LCD) monitor at the show.
LG said the world's thinnest LCD model, 24 inches ``thick,'' is powered by an ultra-thin, eco-friendly light-emitting diodes (LED) backlight with a contrast ratio of one million to one and a response time of two milliseconds.
``The consumer electronics world is still characterized as one of the least environmentally friendly. The industry is trying hard to turn that around,'' said American Technology Research, a market research firm.
LG will release an LED TV set with a thickness of 24.8 millimeters equipped with `Trumotion' 240 megahertz smarter technology. LG said the energy saving function will cut back on energy consumption by up to 75 percent.
LG and its competitors will be pushing low-energy devices to replace lights on long-lasting LED TVs.
Likewise, LG will exhibit the stylish, eco-friendly and solar-powered LG ``HFB-500'' headset, which turns two hours of sunlight into one hour of talk time, another spokesman, Park Seung-koo, said.
``At the show, LG will present more detailed strategies for eco-friendly products,'' Park added.
Tech-Featured Gadgets
Some say the global recession is threatening to turn this year's CES into the most subdued since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, as many Americans are more concerned with paying their bills than buying the latest gadgets or big-screen TV sets. The global electronics sector is expected to be among the hardest hit in the coming months.
``The party is over for consumer electronics companies,'' said research firm ChangeWave Research, which tracks consumer spending on electronics and other goods.
``The year 2009 is likely to raise anxiety levels further. Undoubtedly, the first half of this year will be miserable,'' market researcher NPD predicted in a recent note.
The CEA also expects the number of exhibitors and attendees to be lower than in recent years.
But LG Electronics is planning to use economic woe as an opportunity to turn the market around by releasing striking items.
``We will exhibit some 430 newer, strategic items at the show. Although worries were running high over short-term prospects in the global electronics industry, we will maintain an aggressive stance,'' said Oh Se-chun, a senior manager of LG's corporate communications team.
Among the items, LG's wristwatch-sized phone is expected to steal the limelight.
LG said it plans to debut a wristwatch-style, WiFi-enabled mobile phone sporting a 1.43-inch wide screen that's 0.56 inches thick.
The ``LG-GD910'' will come equipped with touch-screen capability, an MP3 player, built-in speaker or text-to-speech and speech-to-text capability, a camera and Bluetooth compatibility.
``We are touting it as the first 3G HSDPA wristwatch phone on the market. Gone are the days when a watch containing a radio or even a television screen was the height of technology,'' LG's Park said.
The phone will first go on sale in the European market sometime in the first half of the year.
In handsets, all of its strategic full-touch phones ― ``LG-VX9700,'' ``LG-KF900,'' ``LG-KC910,'' ``LG-CT810,'' ``LG-VX10000,'' ``LG-CU920,'' and ``LG-CT810,'' equipped with Windows Mobile 6.1 operating systems ― are to be exhibited.
Along with some storage devices and external hard disc drives, the company will show stylish Blu-ray home theaters dubbed ``HB954PZW'' and ``LHB979,'' while two sets of the latest audio micro-component are set for the tech fair.
Meanwhile, LG's liquid crystal display (LCD) affiliate, LG Display, will display the world's first ``Trumotion 480Hz'' panel for LCD TVs, delivering 480 frames per second, drastically reducing ``after-images'' and sending exceptional motion idetail in movies, sports and video games.
Compared with plasma and conventional picture tube TVs, LCD screens have traditionally had trouble displaying fast-moving scenes resulting in after-images, also known as ghosting.
``A panel with 480Hz high frame rate technology could produce images four times faster than 120Hz panels and twice as fast as 240Hz panels,'' LG Display spokeswoman Jacquelyn Park said, adding the new panel is well fitted for a 47-inch LCD TV.
The CEA recognized LG's design and technology with 14 CES 2009 Innovations Awards, including the CES 2009 ``Best of Innovations'' award in the wireless handset and home appliances categories.
LG was honored in seven categories ― video displays, video components, home theater speakers, wireless communications, home appliances, computer accessories and audio components.