LG eyes 10% market share in mobile handset

Mobile handset maker LG India is looking to double its market share in the cellphone segment to 10 per cent this year and achieve Rs 3,000 crore revenue.

The Korean company is planning to launch 40 handsets from entry level to smart phones to take on the competition from Nokia and Samsung.

"We would like to have 10 per cent market share in 2010 in mobilephone handset segment from the current 5 per cent and triple our revenue to Rs 3,000 crore from GSM and open market CDMA handset sales in 2010 from Rs 1,000 crore in 2009, Mobile Communications Business head Sudhin Mathur told PTI.

"Our marketing and branding expenses will be of Rs 300 crore in the year to strengthen the retail and distribution business, roping in new brand ambassadors and launching models besides huge multimedia campaigns for our phones," he said.

LG India is targeting the youth in a big way and for this it has for the first time appointed brand ambassadors.

The company has roped in Bollywood stars John Abraham, Genelia D Souza and Abhay Deol to be the face of LG Mobiles.

LG India, which is in fierce competition with Nokia and Samsung, is looking to up its position in the Indian market, which Mathur says is currently of 100 million units in size.

To be able achieve the target, the Korean firm has launched a three-pronged strategy, said Mathur, adding that the company planned to launch 40 models in 2010 from Rs 1,200-Rs 40,000 range — entry level to smartphones.

This include 10 smartphones — six phones based on Android platform and four on Windows system.