LG Vows to Keep Sony at Third in World TV Market
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
LG Electronics trails only its bitter domestic rival, Samsung Electronics, as the world's second-largest flat-screen television producer. Simon Kang, the head of LG's home entertainment division, said the company is interested only in moving up the ladder, not down, as it vows to keep Japanese rival Sony at bay in 2010.
On the sidelines of the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Kang told reporters that the company is projecting that it will sell 29 million units of its flat-panel televisions this year, including 7 million of its light-emitting diode (LED) backlit liquid crystal display (LCD) models, an emerging segment in the premium television market.
The world's market for LCD televisions will reach around 171.3 million units this year, representing a more-than-20 percent increase from 2009, Kang said, with much of the growth coming from emerging economies and replacement demand in advanced markets.
LG edged out Sony for the No. 2 spot in the television industry after the second quarter of last year, when its quarterly sales topped 16.2 million units, including both LCD and plasma models.
LCD models account for more than 25 million units of LG's 2010 sales target, which will allow the company to increase its share in the segment to 15 percent from the projected 11 percent in 2009.
LG, which recently launched a new brand of premium televisions called ``INFINIA,'' plans to release around 40 LED-based LCD models this year, a significant increase from the eight introduced in 2008, and mount a stronger challenge against Samsung, which benefited last year from getting early out of the gate in these products.
LG plans to sell 4 million plasma models, with the marketing for them to focus on emerging markets in Asia, the Middle East and Central and South America.
Kang also stressed a renewed emphasis in content and applications, saying that LG products will provide better interconnectivity with a variety of digital devices and be equipped with better multimedia and Internet functions.
``The competition in the television industry was previously all about picture quality and reducing thickness. However, as we move away from the era of `watching' television to `using' it, the television may no longer be considered a simple display device, but the center of `smart living,''' Kang said.
``Our products will change the way televisions are defined, providing stronger interconnectivity with digital devices and a wealth of content.''