By Kim Yoo-chul
LG Electronics is trying to sell its smartphones to Japan, one of the world’s toughest markets.
Samsung, Motorola and Nokia have failed to yield any satisfactory results there.
LG is aiming to win a 5 percent of share of Japan’s handset market.
``LG plans to grab a 5.4 percent share of Japan’s handset sector by the end of this year. LG’s target for handset sales in Japan is 2 million throughout the year,’’ said Lee Hyung-keun, an LG spokesman, Tuesday.
But, more importantly, it wants to sell 1 million smartphones.
About 37 million mobile phones are expected to be sold in Japan this year.
Optimus Bright, a variant of the Optimus Black for Japan, will be offered via NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s top mobile carrier, LG said in a statement.
Celebrity marketing could be the key strategy for LG as it will use well-known pop groups including KARA as the model for LG handsets.
``We will be more aggressive in Japan. We’re not bluffing. LG is paying keen attention to Japan because the success there means a guarantee for our products,’’ said Lee.
The plan comes at a time when LG has acknowledged its own handset turnaround will be a long process because it is still struggling for differentiation.
LG Electronics CEO Koo Bon-joon recently admits that the firm will not be able to stem the losses from its handset division in its current second quarter.
Market analysts had been hoping for a second quarter profit from LG’s handset division, which was losing money and market share due to LG’s late entry in smartphones.
The failure caused its former CEO Nam Yong to resign and LG has been pushing a series of eye-catching consumer gadgets such as 3D TVs as an apparent strategy to try to reverse the trend.