Smartphones: LG Electronics new objective

With a strong third place globally, LG Electronics is now dreaming of becoming one of the references in the smartphone field.

The global economic crisis has changed the situation surrounding the battle for third place in the global rankings of mobile phone sales. For a long time the position has been carried by LG Electronics, Sony Ericsson or Motorola, with each having similar sales figures, although the first of these has finally broken through with an exceptional year of sales.

With the threat from the competition is further behind them, LG Electronics is now being able to concentrate on their new strategic direction, particularly smartphones, with this segment seeing strong growth while the rest of the mobile telephone market is shrinking.

During a conference in the United States in front of management students, the president of LG, Yong Nam, confirmed that his company no longer viewed the traditional players, like Nokia and Sony Ericsson, as their main competition.

The company now views the main competition as smartphone makers like Apple, Research in Motion (Blackberry) and Palm, with the South Korean manufacturer underlining that the largest investments were being made to see their new objectives succeed. "We are not yet ready but we will soon be well represented", he stated.

The choice of Windows Mobile
LG Electronics has developed a close partnership with Microsoft around Windows Mobile, with this being the real battle horse on which their offensive on the smartphone market will be carried. The manufacturer recently indicated that they had a dozen Windows Mobile smartphones in preparation for the end of 2010.

It is perhaps for this reason that the company has remained rather quiet as to their plans around Google Android, while their compatriot Samsung has clearly launched into the adventure with four models already on the market.

We shouldn’t forget the strategic importance of the US market either, with a lot of smartphones present on their shelves, but with little room for players that don’t have their origins in North America.

Opening up to the students, Yong Nam reminded them that, despite the crisis, LG has recently recruited a lot of people, increasing the number of managers outside of Korea, while reinforcing the point that English was the communication language used in the group.

The point was made to seduce the students, some of who may be future executives at LG, with the message being that they are looking to become one of the main global smartphone manufacturers.