By Damian Koh
16/06/2009
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/mobilephones/0,39050603,62055061,00.htm

SINGAPORE--A pack of high-end handsets formed the main focus of LG's mobile communications strategy for the earlier half of this year. These devices, comprising the Arena, Viewty Smart, Crystal GD900 and GM730, featured the S-Class touchscreen user interface which first debuted on the Arena.

"Companies have to be especially careful where they invest during a crisis. We have set about our current course based on thorough and ongoing analysis of our customers and their needs", the vice president of Marketing Strategy for LG Electronics Mobile Communications, Chang Ma, said in a statement.

"This allows us to move forward confidently and turn this downturn into an opportunity", Ma added.

The decision to focus on premium handsets is based on a series of consumer behavior studies and collaboration between the marketing, research and development and product planning teams in LG. The company also employs Voice of Customer, a system which helps gather feedback and analyze media reports.

Over 10 smartphones slated for this year
LG plans to release more than 10 smartphones this year and the bulk of these will run Windows Mobile. Earlier in February, the chaebol and Microsoft inked an agreement at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which will see the Korean phone maker introduce over 50 LG Windows Mobile handsets by 2012 in its product lineup.

Getting a headstart is the GM730 which will be available in Asia next month. This is the company's first smartphone to run on Windows Mobile 6.1. The Korean outfit also has two other devices in the pipeline. The GW550 packs features that include push email and direct access to conference calls, while the GW525 offers enhanced messaging and social-networking capabilities. The former will be available in the latter half of the year. No release date was given for the GW525.

Application Store to launch next month
Taking a leaf out of the books of Apple, Nokia, Research In Motion, Palm and Samsung, LG also plans to introduce its own online Application Store. This will debut first in Asia, before rolling out in another 24 countries globally this year, to coincide with the launch of the GM730. The Web portal will have 1,400 apps when it opens its virtual doors on July 14, with the number of software expected to grow to at least 2,000 by year-end. Of these, LG said 50 will be free for GM730 and KS20 users, the only two handsets currently supported.

Other phones showcased at the infocomm tradeshow CommunicAsia 2009 in Singapore this week include a solar-powered handset along with a Bluetooth car kit, the Watch Phone GD910, the Crystal GD900 with transparent keypad, and the new 8-megapixel touchscreen camera-phone, the Viewty Smart.

According to a recent Gartner report, LG's global market share jumped to 9.9 percent in Q1 2009, up from 8 percent in the same quarter last year. The company reportedly shipped some 26.5 million units worldwide in that quarter.

Model name	In a nutshell
LG GM730 Read the first take	Notable features: 3-inch 240 x 400-pixel WQVGA touchscreen display 5-megapixel camera Wi-Fi, Assisted-GPS, Bluetooth Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional Availability: July 2009 (Asia)
LG Viewty Smart GC900 Read the first take	Notable features: 3D touchscreen user interface 3-inch WVGA 800 x 400-pixel resolution 8-megapixel camera HSDPA Wi-Fi A-GPS Availability: June 2009 (Hong Kong, Australia and Taiwan); followed by Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India and Vietnam thereafter.
LG Crystal GD900 Read the first take	Notable features: Quad-band GSM with HSDPA 3-inch WVGA touchscreen Wi-Fi, Bluetooth A2DP 1.5GB onboard memory with microSD expansion slot TV-out FM radio Availability: June 2009 (in selected countries in Asia and Europe followed by other countries globally)
LG Watch Phone GD910 Click for more images	Notable features: Quad-band GSM with WCDMA watch phone 1.43-inch 128 x 160-pixel touchscreen Capacitive-type display 2GB built-in memory Bluetooth VGA camera Availability: Q3 2009 (Singapore, Malaysia and Australia)