LG and Samsung are worried about Nokia's price cut rumor

Rumor came out that, in order to get better position in the South Korean mobile phone market, Nokia is going to lower the price of its products. The news has irked LG and Samsung two of the top mobile phone producers of South Korea. With its lower priced mobile phone sets Finnish mobile giant, Nokia, is planning to acquire 20% of the South Korean mobile phone market. Phones Review reports:

LG told Reuters that they are “carefully watching” Espoo and will be keeping an eye on their tactical moves over the coming months. LG will also counter with “product portfolio” and “marketing strength.”

Nam Yong, chairman and CEO of LG Electronics has told reporters that unless it could turn out products which “differentiated” themselves from Nokia then price competition was “inevitable.”

To counter Nokia’s price cut, Yong said that LG would go on creating competitive products rather than going for “cheap prices.” Mr. Yong also said that his company will continue targeting the premium market and will movie into the low end market when it would feel that it has built its presence.

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Samsung Coming up with ‘Samsung Steel’ Slider Phone

You know that Samsung has reputation when it comes to slider phone. The South Korean mobile phone maker has already presented a number of attractive slider phones. Now, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (SEO:005930) is going to add another slider phone in the line up. That is Samsung Steel. The phone will hit the UK market next month and will be available exclusively on Vodafone. With a metallic finish, Samsung Steel looks attractive and comes with a 3.2MP camera. Packed in HSDPA, Samsung Steel also features Bluetooth with A2DP and 2.2in 262k colour display. The handset is equipped with a microSD slot.

Trustedreviews reported:

"With the Samsung Steel we wanted to create a multimedia handset with a timeless appeal and premium feel" said Mark Mitchinson, Samsung Mobile VP for the UK and Ireland.

Unlikely to cost anything on most decent contracts, the only note of caution we'd sound is just how much the Steel will weigh? Still, if you haven't upgraded your handset in a while this could be a winner...

Samsung is one of the top five mobile phone brands in the world and is one of the strong competitors of market leader Nokia. However, when it comes to slider phone, Samsung has better presence in the market. It is true that Samsung Steel does not match with Samsung Soul in terms of features; it seems that the handset is going to mark a positive impression in the UK market for Samsung.

Samsung : Disagreement with subcontractors resulted into Gumi plant shutdown

World’s largest electronics company, Samsung Electronic Co., Ltd (SEO:005935), had been forced to shut down its plant due to disagreement over material price with its contractors. This incident also provoked lots of negative criticism and marred the company’s image. The company admitted that its mobile phone handset producing plant at Gumi in Seoul had to stop 20% of its operations for eleven hours, starting from 11 p.m. Friday to 10 a.m. Saturday, as the small and medium-sized subcontractors accused the company of passing on the cost-cut burden upon them. Korea Times reports:

Samsung said the plant has been normalized after it agreed with the participants to review prices in upcoming talks. However, worries are high that Samsung’s premium handset image might get hurt in the long term without decisive measures to ease such disputes.

Samsung hopes to narrow the market gap with the industry leader Nokia by sticking with a two-tier strategy _ premium phones such as the Soul and Haptic from its domestic plant and mid-tier phones from those overseas. The company plans to increase the annual production of handsets in Gumi to 80 million this year from 75 million in 2007.

This is the first incident of production halt in Gumi plant since its inception in 1988. There are 630 suppliers in Gumi. According to the report of Strategy Analytics, a market research firm, Samsung and Motorola is currently at the second position controlling 16.4% of the global mobile phone market. A Samsung spokesperson said that the company should strengthen its price competitiveness at Gumi plant as the product is losing its pricing edge. Currently, Samsung has manufacturing facilities in India, China, and Brazil. It will set up another facility in Vietnam to meet its current production target of 200 million.

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