(Yonhap Interview) LG to focus on user-friendly cell phones: executive

By Kim Young-gyo
SEOUL, July 2 (Yonhap) -- While some mobile phone manufacturers focus on
incorporating cutting-edge technology into their products, LG Electronics Inc.
will continue to showcase customer-centered brands in order to become the world's
No. 2 handset maker by 2012, a company executive said Thursday.
Earlier this year, LG Electronics edged into the No. 3 spot in the global mobile
market, following Finland's Nokia Corp. and domestic competitor Samsung
Electronics Co. The shift was largely due to its sales increases in affordable
mass-market models that still give the feel of premium quality.
"What we pursue is to provide what our customers want -- (phones that are) easy,
convenient and fun to use," Ahn Seung-kwon, president for LG's mobile business,
said in an exclusive interview with Yonhap News Agency.
"I emphasize to my employees that LG does not pursue technology for its own sake.
That would simply be dragging customers to what we want, not to what they want,"
Ahn said, stressing the handheld market is not technology-driven.
The company, which claims about 8.5 percent of the global market, also aims to
raise its share of the global mobile phone market to the 10-percent range this
year by selling more handsets in emerging markets.
Increasing a market share, however, is not the company's highest priority,
according to Ahn.
"While everybody is talking about the market share growth, what is more important
is the repurchase rate -- how many customers come back for your product," he
said.
Without giving a detailed number, Ahn said that LG Electronics had the highest
repurchase rate among the top five handset makers in the U.S. market
The South Korean company, which had been widely known as a producer of home
appliances, successfully landed in 2006 as one of the world's leading cell phone
maker with its "Chocolate" phone, the first of its stylish Black Label series.
LG Electronics aims to revive the worldwide sensation it created with the
Chocolate this year by launching a new Black Label phone in the fourth quarter.
"For the previous Black Label series, our focus was on design. This time, we want
to go beyond that," Ahn said, predicting it will compete with Apple Inc.'s iconic
iPhone.
"I believe the experience users will have with our phone will be different from
what they could get with the iPhone," he said.
LG Electronics is not in a rush to use active-matrix organic light-emitting
diodes (AMOLED) as a light source in mobile displays, Ahn said. AMOLED is known
to consume less electricity and make displays lighter and slimmer.
Rival Samsung Electronics earlier this week announced a new full touchscreen
cellphone called the Haptic AMOLED, which has a high-resolution 800x480 pixel
AMOLED display that measures 3.5 inches diagonally across. The price for the
product is expected to be at around 800,000 won (US$635.8).
"Yes, AMOLED produces better quality moving pictures, although I wonder what
difference that would make in a 3.5-inch display. Weighed against the high cost,
its utility is in question. We wouldn't test the product on our customers for
that kind of money," he said, adding that "the new Black Label will show what an
LCD (liquid crystal display) can do."
One of LG's marketing strategy to retain its customers is to provide a diverse
choice of products, including premium luxury phones.
"We will continue cooperating with Prada Co. Our cooperation with Prada was very
successfully, and garnered attention from other premium luxury brands," Ahn said.
"We even plan to create an extreme premium brand ourselves, similar to Toyota's
Lexus and Nokia's Vertu."
ygkim@yna.co.kr
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