20 million owners flock to LG full touchscreen phones

The milestone for LG in this fast growing handset category comes just 26 months after unveiling the world's first full touchscreen mobile phone, the Prada Phone by LG (LG-KE850), in March 2007.

Sales were brisk and the company reached the 10 million unit mark by November 2008. LG's strategy of introducing a broad range of innovative touchscreen products that appealed to an equally wide audience.

Key to LG's touchscreen phone success has been its dedication to consumer insights during the planning and design phase. LG made it top priority to better understand customers' needs when it came to their mobile phones and this has resulted in handset designs that are almost "tailor-made" to meet the needs of different types of mobile users.

The LG Viewty (LG-KU990) is an example of this dedication to customers' needs. A 5.0 megapixel camera phone launched in October of 2007, the Viewty enhances the enjoyment of taking, viewing and editing pictures on its large touchscreen LCD. The Viewty set a high bar for all future touchscreen cameraphones and has led LG's 17 touchscreen models in sales with seven million units.

More recently, LG introduced the Cookie (LG-KP500), which was designed for customers who wanted advanced touch technology at an affordable price. Not surprisingly, Cookie has been extremely popular wherever it has been introduced and the device has nearly reached the three million mark in the seven months since its launch.

According to market research firm GfK Group, LG Cookie stayed at the top of the French sales charts for three consecutive weeks between late April and early May. Cookie's popularity helped raise LG's market share from 14% at the beginning of the year to 20%, almost catching up to Nokia at 20.8%.

Several competitors have copied LG's strategy, launching handsets with similar features to Cookie, proving that LG is an innovator and market trendsetter.

"We've worked very hard to understand our customers and develop products based on their individual needs. This strategy seems to be working -- we have 20 million satisfied customers and we're looking forward to 20 million more."

said Mr H.S Paik, President LG Electronics Gulf FZE.

In an effort to offer a more personalized and upscale experience for its fast-growing customer base, LG developed the 3D S-Class UI which was unveiled in March. The intuitive and fun mobile interface will be introduced on a range of full touchscreen handsets.

The first device with S-Class was the LG Arena (LG-KM900) which sold-out of 300,000 units in just four weeks. Other S-Class interface-equipped models include the 8 megapixel LG Viewty Smart (LG-GC900), the transparent LG-GD900 Crystal and the LG-GM730 smartphone featuring Windows Mobile 6.1.