Global and regional digital leader LG Electronics have reinforced its mobile phone portfolio by launching the world’s first ‘time-machine’ satellite DMB phone the SB-120, today.
“With worldwide handset sales forecast to reach one billion a year by 2009, according to Gartner Incorporated, advanced technology phones are expected to occupy an increasingly lucrative part of the global mobile market. Handsets that provide a wide range of functions are very visible in the industry,” said C. H. Lee, President, LG Electronics Gulf FZE.
LG has built a standard home TV antenna function into the new phone to receive broadband DMB that adopts the DMB-receiving System-on-Chip (SoC). The chip enables users to watch television broadcasts and talk on the phone at the same time. The phone stores broadcasts in the memory that have been received while the phone is used as a communications device, and replays it afterwards allowing for continuous viewing.
“The SB-120 has opened up a new world where people can watch terrestrial DMB TV and simultaneously speak via a mobile phone. The handset uses our handset design technologies and terrestrial broadcast-receiving chip, giving it the competitive edge in size, performance, and convenience. By overtaking Europe in launching the terrestrial DMB phone, we can have a bigger voice in setting global standards.”
According to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, LG has retained the fourth position in handset sales globally in the third quarter of 2006
The company currently ranks among the world’s four largest handset makers, which includes Nokia and Motorola.
LG’s mobile portfolio for Gitex also includes its best-selling ‘Chocolate’ phone series. The handset has won two European design awards; iF Design Award and reddot Design Award for its unique styling and user interface.
The ‘Chocolate’ is the first handset from LG’s new ‘Black Label’ range of design-led mobile phones, aimed at users who value style as highly as they value technology. The handsets come in a colours ranging from sleek Black and cool White to an attractive shocking Pink.
“Modern buying trends are governed as much by emotion as by product specification, and LG Chocolate connects on both levels. It is unique, desirable and affordable. The KG800 has sold over 137,000 units in the Middle East and Africa alone within three months of tits launch,” explained Lee.
Measuring just 15mm thick, the KG800 uses a hidden LCD screen to appear as a solid, black block when not in use. There are no exposed buttons, and the keypad glows red when activated by the lightest touch.
Another masterpiece is the LG’s KG920 – the world’s slimmest 5 mega-pixel camera phone. The KG920 is super slim at just 18mm wide and adopts an innovative ‘twist and slim’ design that features a 5 mega-pixel digital camera. The camera can rotate 180 degrees to take amazing high-resolution images as well as self-portraits.
The KG920 incorporates an auto-focus charged-couple device (CCD) camera and a 2-inch QVGA LCD screen for VGA-level videos at 30 frames per second (fps). The handset also features a strobe flash, which makes it possible to shoot at a distance of 1.5 metres.
About LG Electronics, Inc.
LG Electronics, Inc. (Korea Stock Exchange: 6657.KS) was established in 1958 as the pioneer in the Korean consumer electronics market. The company is a major global force in electronics and information and communications products with more than 70,000 employees working in 76 overseas subsidiaries and marketing units in 39 countries around the world. With annual total revenues of more than US $37.7 billion (consolidated), LG Electronics comprises three main business companies: Digital Display & Media, Digital Appliance, Telecommunication Equipment & Handset.
LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company is the world’s leading provider of UMTS (WCDMA), CDMA and GSM handsets, which have been designed to improve the value of customer life. With a total range of wired and wireless solutions, the company is rapidly establishing a global presence and growing its international market share in 3G handsets.
For more information, please visit www.lge.com
