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| LG Electronics India managing director K. R. Kim (left), vice president S. T. Hong (central) and product group head (mobile phones) Praveen Valecha (right) in New Delhi on Thursday. (AFP) |
New Delhi, Oct. 16: LG Electronics today launched two high-end mobile handsets based on the global system for mobile communications (GSM) technology. The company hopes to capture a 15 per cent market share with these handsets within the very first year of sales.
The company plans to sell 10 million GSM handsets and 25 million handsets based on the rival technology of code division multiple access (CDMA) technology. LG also announced the launch of 12 more GSM handsets during the next one year. The company plans to invest in research and development in India with a special focus on mobile technology and software. However, no details of the R&D unit were announced.
“We are committed to development of R&D in India. It will be an ongoing process,” said Soon-Tae Hong, vice-president of the GSM handset division.
“LG will initially focus on the mid and premium segment of the market and provide the Indian consumers with various value-adds through its feature-rich phones. The company aims to have models in every price segment by January 2004,” he added.
K. R. Kim, managing director of LG Electronic India, said, “We plan to bring a range of mobile gizmos to Indian customers which will help us capture a major market share. We hope to sell 4 lakh handsets during the next calendar year. LG will be present at every price point.”
The company will be using the direct dealer channel, cutting across the different layers like national and regional distributors. Initially, there will be about 600 dealers, which would be extended to 2000 by the first quarter of 2004. “We will set up over 250 service centres across India,” Kim said.
The two phones launched today— G5300, priced at Rs 13,490, and G7030 priced at Rs 18,990 — will be available in the market from next week.
The G5300 model has features like multimedia messaging, long messaging services and comes with a 65,000 colour LCD display and 16 polyphonic ringers.
