News
LG: We want to be number one in mobile
Stuart O'Brien Aug 21 2008, 9:40am
South Korean company says emerging market growth will make it a top three handset maker, 'number one eventually'.
For starters a bullish LG Electronics reckons it can increase its handset market share to 15 per cent within 18 months, compared to its current 9.3 per cent, as it ramps activity in emerging markets.
The FT reports Scott Ahn, president of LG's mobile communications division, as saying: "We want to become a firm top-three player by 2010 and become number one eventually. We will have to accelerate our pace in emerging markets to achieve that goal."
Analysts think the company is well equipped to take the number three spot from Motorola, but there's no doubt that overhauling Nokia's 40 per cent dominance will be a tall order.
LG sold 52.1 million handsets in 1H08 as models like the Secret, Shine and Prada performed well.
However, Ahn warned that margins for everyone could get lower for high-end devices as a slowing global economy impacted demand.
