LG is rumored to unveil G Pad

If the rumor is believed to be true then LG is going to make its return to tablet business next month with the launch of new tablet PC named G Pad.

Probably this new tablet PC will have an 8.3-inch screen that will support 1920x1200 resolutions and ensure a very high number of pixels per inch.

If the information is correct then it is going to be run by any version of Google’s Android operating system. Other features are a quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM.

The LG G Pad is supposedly going to be thin and light with slim bezels so that users can easily carry the device in their hand. It is expected that the device will be showcased at the IFA Tradeshow begins in Berlin in September.

LG Electronics India Increases Sales and Recruitment Target

It may be the time of global economic recession, but LG India seems to be unaffected by the economic slowdown. LG Electronics India has decided to increase its revue and recruitment target this year. The reason behind this decision is the company’s extensive growth in its sales since the turn of the New Year.

According to reports out in the media, LG Electronics India has increased their revenue growth target to 20-25% which was initially 15%. The company also decided to recruit 3,500 employees, though the initial target was 2,200. In April and May, LG Electronics India experienced about 50% sales growth.

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The Economic Times

LG finished building the largest solar power plant in South Korea

Famous South Korean multinational company, LG, finished building the largest solar panel of the country to produce electricity.LG Solar Energy, a subsidiary of LG Group, in collaboration with the local government, built the energy plant in the western coastal region and the facility has already started to produce electricity. The project cost LG 110 billion won. It will produce 14-megawatt electricity that will meet the power needs of 8000 households around the country. The facility has been built on about 300,000 square meters of land. This will make LG the first South Korean company to launch full scale solar power operations. The Korea Times reports:

The first plant was built on 193,821 square meters of land with a nine-megawatt production size, while the second plant was constructed on a 108,154 square meter lot with five-megawatt capability.

The project will make LG the first South Korean firm to launch full-scale solar power operations.

In an effort to cut carbon dioxide emissions, the government is offering incentives to promote solar power generation. Thanks to this initiative, annual sales from the Taean solar facility will reach at least 13 billion won by selling the electricity to KEPCO for 677 won per kilowatt.

In a press briefing, Dennis Ahn, CEO, LG Solar Energy, said that they had engaged in talks with some foreign companies to construct a solar cell plant on a turnkey basis. He said that they are expecting to make $285000 in 2008 and consume 12000 tons less of carbohydrates on a yearly basis.

Related article:
The Korea Times

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. takes the top position in global LCD market

According to the report of market research firm Display Search, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (SEO: 005930) is the current LCD market leader. The South Korean multinational giant took up 22.1% of the global LCD market by revenue shares in the first three months of 2008. Japan’s Sony Corporation (TYO:6758) and its major domestic rival Sharp Corporation (TYO:6753) took the second and third position by gaining 18.1% and 10.1% over the same period. Samsung has also remained the top global brand for the ninth straight quarter in terms of revenue, maintaining a 39% year-on-year growth. Korea Times reports:

By shipments, the company ranked top, while Sony was No. 2 on a revenue basis for the third straight quarter, declining to about 13.2 percent revenue share after a strong fourth-quarter performance. LG Electronics remained the third-largest player, leveraging a No. 2 unit share position to offset lower than average selling prices (ASPs). ASP is a key measurement to gauge profitability.

LCD TV’s continue to post the strongest growth, rising 45 percent year-on-year to 21.1 million units, though this was the weakest quarter of growth to date.

On the other hand, Japanese company, Panasonic, took over the top position in global Plasma television market. The company had the top Plasma Display Panel (PDP) revenue share of 33.7%; followed by Samsung at 22.7% and LG 16.4%. Samsung’s PDP sales rose 20% to nearly 2.8 million units most of which comprised of 32 inch models.

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Korea Times

LG opened its new air condition production facility in Riyadh

Top South Korean electronics company LG Electronics (SEO:066575), in collaboration with H.G. Ibrahim Shaker Co. Ltd., set up a new air condition producing plant LG-Shaker Co. Ltd. in Riyadh. Today, the new plant was inaugurated. Saudi Arabian Minister of Commerce and Industry Mr. Abdullah bin Ahmed Zaniel Ali Reza and South Korean Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Lee Jaegil were present in the opening ceremony. Top officials of the two companies were also present in the ceremony. Al Bawaba reports:

Addressing opening ceremony, Mr. Y.H. Lee, the CEO of LG Digital Appliance Company said, “Saudi Arabia is the biggest market in the Middle East. And LG-Shaker Company will build the complete local business system from product development to production. We plan to further strengthen our global network of Air Conditioning business by utilizing all the regional production facilities including LG-Shaker factory, which we inaugurate today. With the construction of this new air conditioner production facility in Saudi Arabia, LG now has eight air conditioner production facilities in local markets around the world.”

H. G. Ibrahim Shaker Company. Ltd., Sole distributor of LG Air Conditioners, is the biggest partner for LG’s business in the world and targeting to sell accumulatively US$ 1.4 billion by 2011 starting from the year 2007 onwards in domestic market.

Located at Al Taweer Industrial City, the joint venture cost $35million. The new plant will produce 250,000 units per year and the number will be doubled in the next five years. LG has 49% share of the company and H.G.Ibrahim Shaker Company and other partners 51%.

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Al Bawaba

Samsung and LG has been ranked in Forbes' Top Global Companies list

In the latest ranking of the top 200 global companies of Forbes magazines, South Korean conglomerate Samsung and LG has been ranked 196 and 163. Japan’s largest car maker Toyota Motor Corporation (TYO: 7203) took the top place followed by Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), Swedish retailer IKEA, Ferrero, Italian food and tobacco company and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ). Famous American business magazine, Forbes has been conducting this survey since 2006 with the Reputation Institute, a New-York based research and consulting firm. The Korea Times reports:

Each company is given a Global Pulse score, based on what the Reputation Institute calls the ``seven dimensions'' of reputation: products and services, innovation, workplace, citizenship, governance, leadership and performance.

The most influential dimensions are products and services and citizenship, says Forbes.

The institute says it surveyed more than 60,000 respondents during February and March this year, who voted only for their domestic companies.

According to the survey, Samsung saw the largest slump in reputation since 2007. It lost 8.96 points. Forbes thinks that this dropping is more related to the recent bribery scandal. I checked out the Forbes magazine website but could not find the list. However, I found the news about Toyota ranked the top company in the Reputation Institute website.

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LG declares its strategic plan to become a 'Global'company

In a strategic move toward becoming a more ‘global’ company, LG Electronics announced its restructuring plans and entering into new product markets. LG CEO, Yong Nam, said that LG had aimed to be the best corporate brand in each of the 140 markets it operated in and would do so by increasing its marketing expenditure and restructuring business divisions. He further said that they wanted to make it completely unimportant to consumers where LG was located rather focus on how they feel about LG’s products. Current.com.au reports:

LG cited its US$400 million marketing spend increase over 2007, of which $100 million was spent on its recent Scarlet TV launch, as an example of its marketing direction.

The company admitted, though, that money itself would not be enough, hinting it had undertaken “unique, aggressive campaigns” to help increase brand awareness.

Because of its high expenditure in marketing, the company saw an increase in brand awareness in the USA; one of its major markets. LG said that their division restructuring will go on through the next five years. It would also venture into businesses such as, B2B solutions, healthcare, and energy. LG expects that these changes would yield into sales increase by 10%, profit by 6%. To achieve the company’s goal, LG also hired some non-Korean executives.

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Anadigics Inc. starts shipping its power amplifiers for LG-KU990

New Jersey based semiconductor solutions provider ANADIGICS, Inc. announced that it will start shipping ANADIGICS AWT6277 WCDMA power amplifier modules to LG. The amplifiers will be used in LG Viewty (LG-KU990), the 5.0 mega pixel professional camera phone of LG. LG-KU990, also known as LG Viewty, is one of the best camera phones produced by LG. Similar to LG Prada and Apple’s iPhone, LG-KU990 comes with a large touch screen which enables good camera view. The most prominent feature of this phone is that it can take video at a rate 120 frames per second. With one click, users can upload a recorded video to You Tube. Antara News reports:

"We are very pleased that LG Electronics has chosen our AWT6277 PA module for their cutting-edge LG Viewty 3G camera phone," said Dr. Bami Bastani, President & CEO of ANADIGICS. "Our technologically advanced compact dual-band WCDMA power amplifier offers an industry-leading combination of high performance, small footprint, and low profile, making it possible for this mobile device to do much more than make a phone call."

Specifically designed to meet the needs of feature rich mobile handsets, the AWT6277 HELP(TM) WCDMA PA includes ANADIGICS' HELP(TM) technology which reduces WCDMA average power consumption by 50%. Combined with low leakage current in shutdown mode, the AWT6277 PA delivers longer battery life and additional talk-time-two key metrics for mobile handset designers.

Measuring 4 mm x 4 mm x 1.1 mm, the ANADIGICS AWT6277 WCDMA power amplifier is very suitable for thin phones. The amplifier is enabled by ANADIGICS' advanced patented InGaP-Plus(TM) HBT technology.

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Samsung & LG: Once fierce competitors are becoming partners

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd (SEO:005935)and LG are two of the top electric companies of South Korea and fierce competitors in global market. Now, the once fierce competitors are becoming partners. In order to survive the competition, last week the two companies agreed on a cross-purchasing deal for their flat screen television products. Under the agreement, LG Display will buy Samsung’s 52’’ LCD panels and Samsung will buy LG’s 37’’ LCD panels. Till now, the two companies used to buy LCD panels from Taiwanese makers. With the rise of the Taiwanese LCD makers controlling 42% of the global LCD market the two South Korean giants have joined hands. The Korea Times reports:

The deal will also contribute to cutting the nation's trade deficit, while promoting investment in the local LCD panel industry. In addition, Samsung and LG have agreed to jointly develop mobile television technology aimed at becoming the industry standard in the North American market. Executives of the two companies said they plan to present their proposal to the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), an international group developing technology standards for digital televisions used in the United States and Canada.

The Samsung-LG collaboration comes before the ATSC's U.S. office is scheduled to pick a mobile television standard in the first half of next year. The joint action is expected to set the stage for domestic companies to move from rivalry to partnership in order to cooperate in developing technology, making products and exploring overseas markets.

In a display conference at the Seoul Hotel chaired by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Lee Sang-wan, chief of Samsung Electronics LCD division told that in the next two months Samsung would start the second phase of its eighth-generation lines that would be able to produce 60,000 sheets per month. Till now, Samsung has been refusing calls from LG to provide large-size panels because of the tight supply in the industry. The two companies could not reach an agreement over pricing and other technical matters.

Korean companies are market leaders in semiconductor, shipbuilding and other industrial sectors. Till now, the companies were competing with each other but with the rise of Japanese and Chinese manufacturers, the companies are now teaming up with each other to survive the growing competition.

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Samsung and LG showcase their LCD technology at Society for Information Display (SID) 2008

Samsung Electronics Company Ltd.(SEO:005930) and LG are two of the top electronic manufacturers of South Korea and they are now competing with their LCD technology at a leading North American show Society for Information Display (SID) 2008 in Los Angeles. Both of them are claiming to be the first to come up with their products but experts doubt their marketability. Samsung came up with an ultra-high definition 82’’ LCD panel for 120Hz television sets and LG came with their environment friendly roll printing technology. Korea Times reports:

On Sunday, Samsung Electronics showcased an ultra-high definition 82-inch liquid crystal display (LCD) panel for 120Hz television sets at the Society for Information Display (SID) 2008 International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition in the U.S. city. The show will run from May 18 to 23.

The world’s largest LCD panel supplier said the latest product offers much clearer viewing as its 120Hz technology, which displays an image 120 times per second, increases the frame time by twice that of the existing technology.

Meanwhile, Samsung said the panel uses a light-emitting diode (LED) backlight, with the increasing popularity of LED-backed flat screens triggering soaring demand worldwide.

LG's environment friendly LCD roll-printing technology will replace the photolithography process in LCD fabrication. LG claims that the technology is capable of reducing the amount of chemicals necessary for the photolithography process. It can applied to the fabrication of next-generation flexible displays.Officials of both the companies are very much optimistic about the future of their products.

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LG and Samsung to Work Together to Build a Common Standard for Mobile DTV Service

Two multinational companies based in South Korea, LG and Samsung, are going to jointly work on the technologies that will put the digital TV in mobile phone. As part of their plan to lead the North American DTV market, the two companied have joined their hands together. The technology of Mobile DTV will be based on the findings of a research which will be operated by Association of Maximum Service Television (MSTV). Then, it will be further developed by Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC).

PC Mag reported:

The technology will be based on the findings of a test conducted by the Association of Maximum Service Television (MSTV), a D.C.-based industry group focused on broadcasting technology and spectrum policy issues, according to both companies.

Those findings will be submitted on Thursday to the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) , an international, non-profit organization that develops voluntary standards for digital television, the LG spokesman said.

The agreement of the collaboration of the two biggest electronic companies was signed in the presence of LG president Woo Paik and Samsung’s digital media business president JongWoo Park. Both the companies have the common target to make a mobile DTV standard. Though both the companies have their own DTV systems in the market, the two systems do not match each other. Now, let us see if the two major players of electronic world can come up with a common standard for mobile DTV service.

LG Secret LG-KF750 Cell Phone

You perhaps that LG is doing quite well in the mobile phone market. It is now the fourth largest name in mobile phone handset world and it is trying to surpass Motorola and go in the third position. One of the things that LG is doing very well is to present new handsets on a consistent basis. LG Secret KF750 is not a secret anymore. Rather, it is available in many countries. It is a touch screen mobile phone.

infoSync World wrote:

Sporting a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus (in an ultra-slim profile at 11.8mm), the LG Secret KF750 can take pictures with sensitivity up to ISO800 and shoot QVGA videos at 120 fps. Included camera features are Morphing (facial editing) and SmartLight, that automatically adjusts a picture's light settings. Users can also take advantage of the Movie Maker Software in the handset to create their own music videos.

PC Advisor wrote:

The LG Secret is 11.8mm thick, is clad in carbon-fibre and is designed to look as good after several months' use as it did when it was first plucked from the shelf your local mobile phone shop.

LG says it added a tempered glass LCD display to add both “sheen and strength”. We just hope it isn't as susceptible to grubby fingerprint marks as the Shine.

It is a nice phone and it will surely attract many consumers.

NTT DoCoMo will market LG PRADA in Japan from June

One of the top Japanese mobile phone companies, NTT DoCoMo, Inc. (TYO:9437) will market LG’s PRADA Phone in Japan from June. Wireless Design Asia reports:

Handset features include an intuitive, full-size touch screen with vibration touch to improve usability. This function activates whenever users touch screen icons to make a call, use e-mail, take and view photos or listen to music. The 2 megapixel camera is equipped with a German-made Schneider-Kreuznach lens and auto-focus capability.

High-speed 7.2Mbps data transmission makes it easy to enjoy i-mode and to download Chaku-Uta Full and other large files, while full 3in browser compatibility enhances the mobile Internet experience.

Currently, PRADA Phone is found in Europe and other countries. The The Laclede Group, Inc., popularly known as LG, is the second largest electronic company of South Korea and third largest in the world.

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Wireless Design Asia

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LG Introduces LG KF510, LG KP 320 and LG KP Mobile Phone Models for Different Consumer Segments

One of the global mobile phone makers, LG has come up with three new mobile phone models in its line up. The three new phone models: KF510, KP320 and KP110- are targeted to different consumer segment in the market. All of the three mobile phone sets offer a number of attractive features depending on the segment it is targeting to.

Features of LG KF510:

• It features a 3 megapixel auto focus flash camera
  

• Image stabilisation and red eye reduction are also available with this phone.
  

• LG KF510 is 10.9mm slim and that is one of the main attractions of this handset.
  

• The new model offers MP3, MPEG-4 player, FM radio, GPRS, EDGE and is capable of running QVGA video.
  

Features of LG KP320:

• This model also features 3 megapixel with auto focus.
  

• LG KP320 is the latest model of LG’s Dynamite series.
  

• Video-recording and high internal memory with TV facility are available with this model.
  

• With 81 grams weight and measuring 107 x 46 x 13.5 millimeters, this phone set seems to be very attractive.
  

• LG KP320 also offers 2 inch TFT display with 262k colors support for the consumers.
  

• This phone comes preloaded with FM Radio, Bluetooth, music and video player facilities. This phone set is very economical.
  

Features of KP110:

• This handset is mainly targeted to the music lovers who would like to enjoy FM Radio and MP3 playback option in their handset.
  

• It features large storage with microSD memory card with up to 2GB of memory space.
  

• The battery life KP110 is offering seems to be attractive. The handset provides battery life up to 4 hrs of talktime and 400 hours of standby time.
  

It ism, for sure, LG has targeted a number a consumer segments with this three new models. The pricing also seems to be well suited. LG KF510 is priced Rs 12,250, while LG KP 320 goes on sale for 7,990. LG KP 110 also has an attractive price tag of 2,899. So, I think, there is every possibility LG can make some quick cash in thanks to these three phone sets.

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Indiatimes

LGenV2: Another Qwerty phone from LG

The Laclede Group Incorporation, also known as LG, is one of the top cell phone producers in the world. Here is a review of their latest Qwetry phone product- LGenV2.

The latest version of LGenV2 is smaller and slimmer than its predecessor, LG VX9900 enV.

The phone looks very polished, and elegant with its maroon paint.

The phone has an improved interface. It brings key features to the top menu level. This also includes instant messaging, navigation, and ringtones.

Call quality has not been improved but it has all the favorite calling features: Bluetooth, speaker-independent voice dialing, conference calling.

Text messaging, MMS, instant messaging through Yahoo, MSN and AOL, and basic e-mail work fine. The internal key board is not so smooth. It would have been better if the ‘Space bar’ button was in the center. The problem is it does not have too many message option which fails to make it the ultimate messaging machine.

Multimedia are the weakest feature of the phone. The music and video section has unnecessary options. It requires extra software to recognize memory card synchronized with Windows Media player. Downloading is also very difficult.

With the internal key board, you may be able to type long web addresses but the phone fails to open websites properly. It would have been better if an Opera mini browser was included.

The external screen display is too small. The external key pad may not feel smooth but the numbers on the keys will make feel cozy. This is the best feature of the phone.

The phone also has a better navigation system.

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Info Sync World

Top 5 Mobile Phone Companies: How they are Doing?

Did you know that of the top 5 mobile phone companies in the world now, 2.5 companies are from Asia? If you did not know this information then no problem. Read the whole entry and you will came to know about it. Since, this is a blog about Asian Business therefore, I am excited with this news. Interesting thing is that Korean companies are now coming forward and dominating in the mobile phone sector. Well, the other half is non Asian and I am talking about all the 5 top names in Mobile Phone world today.

1. Nokia: Nokia has around 40% market share in the world now. Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) is a Finnish company and it has continued to impress everyone year after year. Nokia is very strong in Asia and you can be quite sure that mobile phone industry will witness massive growth in China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia (together they have over 1.5 billion population) for years to come as mobile phone penetration is not even 50% in these countries. Unless, something terribly goes wrong for the company, Nokia will surely dominate in the mobile phone market for quite some time. It seems that Nokia has by default the first position and other companies have to try for the second position.

2. Samsung: What makes me very interested about Samsung is that it is a very diversified company. I mean that Samsung Group is engaged in different kinds of business sectors. You know that Nokia is totally focused on telecommunication sector but Samsung produces many items. In fact, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (SEO:005930) is a part of Samsung Group and even Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Produces a wide range of products- not just mobile phone sets. Thus it shows that Samsung has a strong and good management team who are good at their business. One thing that Samsung has tried to do in the last few years is that to offer a wide range of mobile phone sets. Samsung also is strong in R&D.

3. Motorola: I guess that many of you did not expect Motorola to be here in the third position. Motorola is having a tough time. First of all, the company is finding it very difficult to make profit. In Q4 2007, Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT) suffered over $1 billion loss in the mobile phone handset business. To add insult to injury, Motorola lost around 9% of market share (from 18.4% in 2007 to 9.7% now) in the world. In the last one year, Motorola slipped a lot and fell behind Samsung and became third largest mobile phone maker. Motorola is traditionally strong in the US market. It is still doing well in the US market. However, I think that this is the main problem for the company. The US market is already over saturated and last year, iPhone got all the media attention not any model of Motorola. Another problem is that both Samsung and LG have put up a strong fight against Motorola in the US market.

4. LG: In 2008, LG seems to be the emerging giant in mobile phone world. Only 2-3 years ago, many people in the mobile phone industry did not consider LG as a top class player. Well, this has changed a lot in 2008. LG is now the 4^th largest name in mobile phone industry. LG has overtaken Sony Ericsson. The main strength of LG is perhaps in its ability to produce a lot of models at a short time. LG has also taken the Asian market seriously. LG has invested a lot in Indian market in the last two years. At the same, LG is doing well in the US market too. The same goes for Samsung. These two Korean companies are performing both in the rich American market and not so rich Asian market. LG is also investing heavily in R&D and while Motorola failed to make any profit, LG saw its profit soaring in mobile handset business.

5. Sony Ericsson:Neither Sony nor Ericsson now makes any mobile phone set. Rather, the joint venture company, Sony Ericsson produces handsets. Sony Ericsson is famous to many Tennis fans because it is the sponsor of Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and you know that WTA is the place for some of the most beautiful and popular female players on earth (like Sharapova and Ivanovic). So, Sony Ericsson should not have any problem about branding and visibility. That is why, I am surprised to see that LG could surpass Sony Ericsson. Well, it seems that Sony Ericsson will face a tough time in future and it may follow the example of Motorola. By the way, I said 2.5 of the top 5 mobile phone companies are Asian because Sony Ericsson is half Asian (Japanese Sony) and half European.

Four months of 2008 have passed. I am not sure if there would be any major change in the ranking of these 5 companies in the rest of the year. There is a slim possibility that LG can overtake Motorola and become number 3 mobile phone handset makers in the world.

Will it happen? What do you think?

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