Monday, July 21,2008 @ 7:55am
LG sells 7m touchscreen phones, claims lead
LG on Monday revealed that it has sold about seven million touchscreen cellphones since the company first introduced a full touch device through the Prada Phone in early 2007. The company claims to have the "leadership" of the category and notes that two million of these are the KU990 Viewty cameraphone; the next most popular devices are the North America-focused Venus and Voyager at 1.6 million and 1.3 million examples each, according to the company. The remaining 2.1 million are split between the Vu as well as models that are largely only available in Europe or Korea.
The firm also touts the high average selling price of $530 and that these touchscreen phones helped boost LG's name in other countries, with recognition jumping from about 65.1 percent to 83.1 percent in the US.
LG's assertion of the lead comes shortly after Apple reports selling a million iPhone 3G units on its first week of sale and on the back of a total of six million sales of the original model, matching the Korean rival's figure despite launching its first touchscreen phones a few months later. The new iPhone sales won't be factored into Apple's latest quarterly results, which account for the period ending in June.
Korea-based LG is nonetheless one of the largest manufacturers of any cellphone type and reports selling 27.7 million phones in the April-to-June quarter, pushing past Sony Ericsson's 24.4 million. The electronics giant is likely to assume third place in world market share after Nokia's 122 million phones and Samsung's expected higher numbers. These two companies have both seen their average selling prices drop as their sales balance shifts to lower-cost phones.