LG Electronics bets on 3-D for mobile revival

SEOUL, July 7 (Yonhap) -- LG Electronics Inc., the world's third-largest maker of mobile phones, said Thursday that it will launch the Optimus 3D smartphone in S. Korea this week, hoping the new handset will help turn around its loss-making mobile business.
LG will start receiving pre-orders for the Optimus 3D smartphone on Friday, before the handset will be exclusively released via South Korea's top mobile carrier SK Telecom, its statement said.
LG Electronics has been losing money in the mobile phone sector for four straight quarters through March and it is expected to stay in the red for the April-June period, its chief financial officer said in April.
While its hometown rival Samsung Electronics Co., the world's second-largest mobile phone maker, transformed from a smartphone also-ran to a viable competitor to Apple Inc. with the Galaxy series of smartphones, LG has failed to produce a globally popular smartphone. This has delayed the company's efforts to become a major player in the high-end market, the fastest-growing mobile segment.
The company hopes the Optimus 3D, which can playback, record and share 3-D images and 3-D games, will put the company back in the smartphone race and help 3-D features become mainstream in the consumer electronics market, it said.
LG signed a partnership with Gameloft Inc. to preload three 3-D game titles from the New York city-based mobile game developer onto its new smartphone.
Users can upload, download and playback 3-D videos from the world's largest video sharing site, YouTube, and the company aims to support third-party developers to create new applications with 3-D features.
The 4.3-inch screen of the Optimus 3D gives users the illusion of images popping out of the screen even without wearing special glasses, LG said.
The retail price for the Optimus 3D is 800,000 won (US$750), the company said.