LG highlights mobile innovations

The LG U8110 is a 3G-clamshell dual band phone (GSM, GPRS/WCDMA) with rich multi-media functionalities. The phone features a VGA 2X digital zoom camera, 65,000-color TFT-LCD enabling video telephony, VOD, MMS, and other sophisticated multimedia functions. It also supports MP3, MPEG 4 and AAC formats enabling mobile entertainment.

"The mobile handset market in the Middle East and Africa jumped by almost 26% in 2003, with shipments surpassing 40 million units across the region. According to a new IDC study, the premier global market intelligence and advisory firm in the information technology and telecommunications industries, sales were highest in the Middle East, reflecting the region's more advanced level of economic development compared to most of Africa. Handset sales will rise strongly, reaching close to 50 million this year and expanding consistently through 2008 as shipments to many markets surge," said P C Choi, President, LG Electronics Gulf FZE.

The mobile phone market in the Middle East is growing at a rapid pace, outnumbering fixed lines in most Gulf countries. The World IT Report predicts GCC governments will spend approximately 25 percent of their infrastructure development funds on the expansion of the telecommunications sector. Market studies indicate that up to US$3 billion will be invested in mobile network infrastructure in the Middle East and North Africa in 2003 and 2004.

"IDC estimates that there are 1.35 billion cell phones in use in the world today. By 2008 there should be 2 billion wireless subscribers in the world—30 percent of the projected global population. LG is a company that has the technical expertise to drive mobile technology to unprecedented levels," added Choi.

The LG T5100, also unveiled for the first time in the Middle East, is equipped with a digital rotating 1.3 mega pixel camera, internal 256K-color display, outer 65k TFT display and an MP3 player. The handset features a host of modern MMS and multimedia functions and can store up to 32MB of data. Users of this model can capture moving and still images, listen to MP3 tracks and, with the JAVA (MIDP 2.0) browser, surf the web. Even when the screen is folded, the handset can be still used.

Other mobile phones on display during Gitex 2004 are the LG G5600 a powerful camera phone with a large TFT display and rich multimedia features; the LG C1100 a traditional clamshell phone with a vibrant colour display; and the stylish LG L1100, a clamshell phone with an excellent internal TFT screen and VGA camera.

In 2003, LG was placed at the top of CDMA market with a global market share of 21.6%. CDMA and GSM sales combined, our ranking in last year was 5th globally with 5.3% market share. LG plans to reach the target of among the top three global GSM brands within next three years.

"Mobile phone industry has now become an integral part of the converged digital industry. Consumer electronics, communications, IT and media industries are all converging and we, at LG Electronics, believe we can drive that convergence with our technological expertise and superior products," said Choi.