Korean firms put on show at wireless exhibition

Asian companies are expected to lead the mobile phone market worldwide, John Koo, chairman and chief executive of LG Electronics Co. said yesterday in a keynote speech at CTIA Wireless 2003 exhibition in New Orleans, Louisiana. The three-day exhibition, sponsored by the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, kicked off with guest speeches by Jorma Olilla, chairman and CEO of Nokia Oyj, and Christopher B. Galvin, chairman and CEO of Motorola Corp. Introducing an LG mobile handset capable of showing moving images in front of 2,000 spectators, Mr. Koo said, “Korean companies’ mobile handsets featuring third-generation technologies including video on demand service and global positioning system will dominate the global market.” The chairman stressed that the quality of LG’s third-generation handsets has been recognized by customers, unlike those of European firms and that Korean firms including LG will set new trends in the global market. Companies like Nokia and Motorola have been dominant players in the cell phone market. Successful overseas companies have focused on basic functions such as voice transmissions for the last two to three years, while domestic firms developed multimedia, game and global positioning system technologies. LG’s handsets sold 12 million units outside Korea last year, an increase of 5 million units from 2001. LG forecast a 50 percent growth in its overseas sales this year to 19 million sets. LG expects to sell 9 million mobile phones in North America this year. During the exhibition, Mr. Koo demonstrated a third-generation handset capable of sending and receiving mobile images and featuring a digital camera that can rotate 360 degrees. The vice chairman said mobile phones would evolve in a way that materialized “home networks,” through which a caller can remotely control television sets and VCRs at home with a handset. by Kim Jong-yoon