LG aims to sell 5 mln units of new high-end phone

SEOUL, June 11 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's LG Electronics Co. aims to sell 5
million units of its latest high-end phone as part of efforts to capture 10
percent of the global mobile phone market, a company executive said Monday.
LG Electronics, the world's third-largest handset maker, launched the "Arena"
smartphone Monday in South Korea. The phone boasts a slew of multimedia features
and is equipped with a Dolby Mobile surround sound system and a touch screen.
"The Arena phone is designed to become a high-end premium product," said Ahn
Seung-kwon, CEO of Mobile Communications at LG Electronics. "We will aim to sell
at least 5 million units of the Arena phones worldwide, including 500,000 units
in South Korea."
Despite the gloomy outlook for the handset market this year, the company will
still maintain its goal of achieving a global market share of 10 percent, Ahn
said.
To achieve the goal, the company plans to improve the smartphone, or mobile
phones with computer-like capabilities, by strengthening ties with Microsoft
Corp. and Google Inc.
"Last February, we agreed to a tie-up with Microsoft. Now, we are developing a
smartphone featuring Google's Android (operating system)," said Ahn. "By 2012, we
aim to become No. 2 not only in the whole phone category, but also in the
specific category of smartphones."
ygkim@yna.co.kr
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