Korean technology major LG expects to garner revenue of up to Rs 200 crore by 2014 from its 4G ready smartphones LG G2 that it launched today at a price starting from Rs 41,500.
“We have set a target to capture 10 per cent of smartphone market share by end of 2014. At LG, we innovate by learning from customers. LG G2 is an example for that. We are initially targeting Rs 150—200 crore revenue from G2 alone,” LG India Managing Director Soon Kwon said.
The company has launched two models of 4G ready LG G2—one with 32 GB internal storage and other with 16 GB storage capacity. The 32 GB model of LG G2 is the highest priced model from LG’s stable in India.
The storage capacity of both the phones is not expandable but LG is offering 50 GB of cloud storage free on the phones throughout the lifetime of product.
“G2 is 4G ready and support TDD LTE frequency for which companies in India hold spectrum. Once the network is ready, we can upgrade these devices to support 4G. They will not have to buy new device for accessing 4G service. At present G2 will support 3G,” LG India’s Marketing head Amit Gujral said.
Reliance Jio Infocomm, Bharti Airtel, Aircel and others have spectrum for 4G services that can be provided using TDD LTE technology.
As part of innovation in the phone, LG has introduced control keys at the back of the device and removed them from side panel.
“We did research on the way people hold their phone, where they place their fingers. We decided to put control keys on the back instead of on sides. First time ever any company has done this. This will make easy for users to execute many functions of G2 and reduce chances of dropping phone as well,” Gujral said.
G2 has 3000 mAH battery which can support continuous usage of up to 1.8 days, Gujral said.
Built on Android Jelly Bean platform, LG G2 has display screen of 5.2 inch, 13 megapixel rear and 2.1 MP front camera.
The company has introduced new features like audio recording that can be zoomed to capture voice of person in focus, guest mode which allows guest to access only those features of the phone permitted by device owner, QuickRemote that functions like universal remote and can control function of TV, home theatre and other similar electronic device.
Both the models are available for sale from today.
LG has earmarked Rs 100 crore for marketing and expansion of retails sales network.