LG Arena creators ’still face tough rivals’

The South Korean manufacturer that has brought us the LG Arena, Cookie and Viewty Smart will some tough competition from other companies if it is to realise its plans to become one of the biggest in the sector, it has been advised.

Following LG’s announcement that it intends to emerge as the second largest handset creator on the market within the next three years, one industry commentator has suggested it may yet have its work cut out.

A spokesman for UnwiredView, an online publication that supplies news and reviews on the latest mobile phones and related technologies, said the firm could well see its dreams go unfulfilled.

Stasys Bielinis, editor-in-chief at the publication, explained that although LG had performed well over the last few years with some interesting models, it would take a major slip up from one or two of its fiercest competitors for the group to attain the status of the second-best in the world.

“LG did well with a cheap touchscreen phone – the LG Cookie KP500 – but now Samsung has the Star and the Preston. LG’s S-Class interface is good, but Samsung’s TouchWiz is also good,” he added, noting that compatibility with Symbian, Windows Mobile and Android was also a benefit the latter software had.

His comments follow an article posted on UnwiredView that included an excerpt from an interview with Ahn Seung-kwon, LG’s president of mobile business, in which it was asserted the firm would continue the success of beating Motorola and Sony Ericsson into third place.