LG flat screen TVs sweep global design awards

LG aims to be the market leader in PDP TVs by 2006 and LCD TVs by 2008. The company is targeting a 30 percent share of the PDP module market by 2005, the number one position in the PDP TV market by 2006, and the number one position in the LCD TV market by 2008. LG's 50 inch PDP TV, with world's first built-in hard disk, received an iF Design Award at CeBIT 2005, and a Reddot Design Award. The 60-inch version grabbed an Innovation Award at Consumer Electronics Show 2005 held early this year.

"The global PDP market has been growing quickly due to the drastic improvements seen in PDP screen quality and performance vis-à-vis falling prices. The global PDP TV market, estimated at 3.5 million units in 2004, will continue to expand to 6.3 million units by 2005, 10 million units by 2006, and 12 million units by 2007," said K H Kim, President, LG Electronics, Middle East and Africa Operations.

LG is the market leader in the PDP TV segment in 17 countries including the UK, Germany, Spain, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa; the company aims to be the market leader in 30 countries by 2005. To aggressively explore overseas markets, LG has established digital TV production bases in three hubs - North America (Mexico), Europe (Poland), and China (Shenyang and Nanjing).

LG has also introduced the application of the screen improvement chip XDRPro and the industry's highest brightness and contrast ratio KK module (1000 cd, contrast ratio of 1200:1). The 50-inch PDP TV has a built-in 160-gigabyte hard disk, which can store 13 hours of full high-definition broadcast or 62 hours of analogue broadcasts. The model includes two slots that can support nine-standard types of memory cards. The 55-inch LCD TV, the world's first commercialised model in the 50-inch range with a built-in set-top box enables the watching of digital broadcasts. The model has a built-in picture enhancement chip, XD Engine, to display high-definition images.

Nine LG products including a 50-inch HDD-embedded PDP TV, and the world's largest 55-inch all-in-one LCD TV, received 2005 Reddot Design Awards from world-prestigious design institute German Design Zentrum. The line up included PDP and LCD TVs, ultra-slim LCD monitors, a personal computer, a DVD player, a TV-enabled DIOS refrigerator, TROMM washing machines, a French DIOS refrigerator, Cyking vacuum cleaners, a wine cellar, and a GSM mobile handset

The Reddot Design Awards, together with iF Design Awards, are one of Europe's two most prestigious design awards. Launched in 1955, the Reddot Design Award goes to products with outstanding designs. Award winning products feature the Red Dot accreditation mark, and are recognised for their design excellence worldwide. Around 4,000-odd products from about 40 nations competed for the Reddot Design award this year.