LG unwraps Chocolate phone in UK
Korean electronics vendor LG Electronics today took the wraps off its first ‘design’ handset to be launched in the UK – the Chocolate phone.
The device follows in the footsteps of design phones pioneered by the likes of Nokia and Motorola, with the recently announced “L’amour” series and RAZR respectively.
The Chocolate is also the first of LGE’s Black Label portfolio of devices, aimed at high end users “who value style as much as high end technology.” The device retails from upwards of ВЈ269.
The phone packs an MP3/AAC music player, a 1.3 megapixel camera and 128MB of on board memory, but the design itself is being pushed as the main selling point. It claims to have an almost ‘invisible’ LCD display, which only comes to life when in use, as well as touch sensitive buttons on the face of the unit, rather than a typical keypad.
The Korean firm said that the CDMA version of the device, which has been available in Korea since November, has already shifted 400,000 units. Chang Ma, vice president of the mobile marketing support team at LGE, told that the device has also become the best selling contract phone at the Carphone Warehouse, where it has been retailed since May 1.
But Ma could not deny that handset vendors, including LGE, had had a tough time selling high end devices in recent months.
Operating loss at the Korean vendor’s handset division plummeted to Won31bn (ВЈ17.9m) in the first quarter, compared to a profit of Won67bn in the previous year. Sales were almost flat at Won1.8tn, although domestic shipments were up to Won316bn in the first quarter on a figure of Won258bn last year. This shift was largely due to the popularity of the Black Label series in the domestic market.
“We expect the device to be successful in the UK,” said Ma, “but it is hard to tell. It’s the first time we are selling a device on the open market, usually we only sell via carriers. This is about testing the water,” he said.
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