Telecom Lead India: LG Electronics has been lagging
behind in the mobile phone market, due to lack of aggressive approach.
The recent mobile phone market share report from IDC
suggests that LG has become the fifth largest mobile phone vendor in the world
based on volume shipments.
Samsung, once its close competitor has now grown by leap
and bounds to become the leading phone manufacturer in the world.
LG Electronics’phone division plunged in the second quarter
of 2012 and its smartphone sales were down more than 28 percent year-over-year
to KRW 2.29 billion.
Being a late entrant into the smartphone market, LG is
having a hard time due to increased competition with market majors such as
Samsung and Apple. (READ: Top 5 smartphone vendors market share in Q2 2012)
The company’s feature phone segment (READ: Top 10 mobile phone vendors in first quarter of 2012) is
also plunging, due to increasing smartphone adoption. However, the company said
that in Q2 FY12, its smartphone shipments rose to 44 percent of unit sales, up
from 36 percent the previous quarter, mainly driven by LTE smartphones. LG sold
13.1 million phones worldwide in the second quarter.
The company has a noticeable presence in developed
countries such as America and Europe, and is planning to introduce new LTE
models in the second half in developed 4G regions including North America and
parts of Europe and Asia.
Moreover, in emerging markets of APAC and MEA region, LG
has been struggling due to less innovative offerings both in terms of feature
phones and smartphones.
Furthermore, LG’s presence in the tablet market has also
been negligible. The tablet market is being dominated by Apple, Amazon and Samsung.
LG has recently announced that it will sideline tablet
computer development to focus more on smartphones. The company has introduced
two tablets so far, including Optimus Pad LTE, which was launched earlier this
year.
The company is now trying to turn around its mobile phone
business with its Optimus line of Android-powered smartphones. The company also
mulls over making phones using Microsoft software.
Last year, the company was overtaken by Apple as the
No. 3 handset maker last year. In Q1 FTY12, LG further slipped to No. 5 in the
global handset vendor rankings, as ZTE has taken over its No.4 position.
Apart from Apple and Samsung, LG has got more intense
competition from Chinese handset manufacturers like ZTE and Huawei, who have
been aggressively rolling-out new range of smartphones and feature phones.
The company is now betting high on emerging markets
including India and Middle-East countries. A few months back, LG Electronics
announced that it will launch 12 Android based smartphones in low, mid and top
end categories in India this year, which will be in the price bracket of
Rs 7,000 to Rs 35,000.
However, the Indian handset market has already been crowded
with domestic handset makers along with market incumbents like Nokia, Samsung
and Apple.
Till now, the Optimus range failed to compete with
Samsung’s Galaxy phone and Apple’s iPhone. However, few days back, the Korean
consumer electronics giant launched 3 new smartphones – LG L Optimus series
(L7, L5 and L3) and LG Optimus 4X HD Quad core.
Analysts still believe that LG’s outlook for the upcoming
quarters is bleak, as Apple, Samsung, HTC and Nokia set to launch new enhanced
smartphones.
Danish Khan
[email protected]
