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Telecommunications LG wins contest to build low cost 3G phone
Telecommunications LG wins contest to build low cost 3G phone | LG wins contest to build low cost 3G phone |
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| by Stuart Corner | |
| Wednesday, 07 February 2007 | |
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The deal will give LG, one the second tier cellphone manufacturers, a significant boost. According to Gartner, in the third quarter of 2006, LG had six percent market share of six percent behind Sony Ericsson at 7.7 percent, Samsung on 12.2 percent, Motorola and market leader Nokia. The specification for the phone was developed by a group of operator members of the GSMA: Cingular Wireless, Globe Telecom, Hutchison 3G, KTF, MTN, Orange, Smart, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telenor, T-Mobile and Vodafone. Their job was to create "a core set of common requirements for 3G handsets to create the economies of scale that will allow mobile phone suppliers to rapidly bring down the cost of manufacturing these high-tech devices." The GSMA said that the endorsement of these, which collectively serve 620 million subscribers, would help the winning handset vendor achieve the economies of scale in manufacturing, logistics and marketing, necessary to make 3G phones much more affordable. The winning handset was to be made available to all GSMA operators. "Our 3G handset initiative will allow far more people to take advantage of the video clips, mobile music, Internet access, and many other multimedia services now enjoyed by more affluent users in the developed world," said Rob Conway, CEO of the GSMA. The GSMA had already demonstrated its ability to achieve results with an earlier programme: to produce a low cost 2G handset. Thee GSMA announced in February 2005 that Motorola had won that contest with a family of products built on its 'ultra-low cost' C114 platforms optimised for the durability, long talk time and design preferences of emerging markets. Motorola committed to deliver products during the second quarter of 2005 at a price point below $US40 (ex-factory) and promised to work with GSMA members to develop follow-on products at sub $US30 price points. The initial unit volume target for the first six months was six million handsets.{moscomment}
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