ZTE Corporation, based in Shenzhen, is currently the eighth-ranked handset maker in the world, according to the Gartner Group.

By Zhu Shenshen (Shanghai Daily) – THREE Chinese firms, two in the mainland and one from Hong Kong, have been listed in the world’s top 10 handset makers, thanks to the growing market demand in Asia, a United States-based research firm said today.

By the end of the first quarter, Shenzhen-based ZTE Corp ranked No. 8, followed by Hong Kong-based G-Five with the No. 9 position, which ranked in the top 10 for the first time. Shenzhen-based firm Huawei Technologies ranked No. 10, according to Gartner Inc, a US-based IT research firm.

The combined market shares of the top five mobile handset manufacturers, including Nokia, Samsung, LG, RIM (Research in Motion) and Sony Ericsson, dropped from 73.3 percent in the first quarter of 2009 to 70.7 percent in the same period this year, according to Gartner.

ZTE, which expects mobile phone revenue to grow 35 percent annually in 2010, grabbed a 1.7 percent share of the global market, up 0.4 percent from last year.

China’s mobile subscriber base will reach 840 million units by 2010 and more than 1 billion in 2012, according to Informa, a Switzerland-based research firm. — read more at ShanghaiDaily.com…

An attendee checks out an LG Electronics 47-inch LCD HDTV with slim, full LED-backlight technology and NetCast Entertainment Access at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. (China Daily)

By Chen Limin (China Daily) – BEIJING – LG Electronics Inc, the world’s second largest TV brand and third biggest mobile phone maker, expects to double its sales in China this year as the global economic recovery spurs demand.

“LG Electronics is on track to a 100 percent growth in China,” Choong Bong Cho, chief executive officer of LG Electronics Greater China Region said in an interview with China Daily. China poised to be world’s largest LCD TV market

Sales of LG Electronics in China reached approximately $22 billion last year, according to the company.

He added that the company’s sales in China grew by 80 percent year-on-year over the first quarter, mainly led by rising demand for mobile phones, LCD (liquid crystal display) TVs and other home appliances bolstered by government subsidies for residents in rural areas launched in late 2008.

China is currently the sixth largest market for LG Electronics, and the company hopes it will play a bigger role in its global business.

“We’ve just redefined China as a market equally important with South Korea,” said Cho, adding that the company hopes to increase the manufacturing force in China.

The company is now waiting for approval from the Chinese government for LG Display Co, the world’s second largest LCD maker that LG Electronics is the largest shareholder in, to set up a plant in China to produce eighth-generation LCD displays.

According to Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), China is likely to be the largest LCD TV market in the world this year, with its LCD TV sales forecast to grow by nine million units this year. – read more at ChinaDaily.com…

(The Korea Herald) Phone salesperson Lee Geon-seok said he has been so busy with customers hoping to buy the newly released iPhone that he has not had time to eat.

He said iPhone sales reached 100 units per day at his two KT stores, accounting for around 80 percent of total handset sales there. “It’s a war. iPhone sales are explosive,” Lee told The Korea Herald.

He said his store is running short of iPhones because of strong demand. Korean customers snapped up 70,000 iPhones as of Sunday – just eight days after its release in Korea, according to a KT spokesperson.

This is rare in the Korean handset market, which has been dominated by Samsung and LG. Global handset makers such as Nokia and Sony Ericsson have posted poor sales here.

It remains to be seen whether the initial strong sales of Apple’s iPhone, driven by pent-up demand, will continue. But for now, the small gadget is rattling the country’s mobile market.

The iPhone launch appears to have hit LG harder than Samsung. Sales of LG’s flagship phone Chocolate slumped this month, and the company has few competitive smartphone models.

“Sales of the Chocolate phone are meager,” a KT spokesperson said yesterday, without giving the figure.

Top mobile carrier SK Telecom also said yesterday daily sales of the Chocolate slumped to 250 units this month, from 400 units last month.

This contrasts with Samsung’s new smartphone Omina 2, whose daily sales reached a whopping 5,000 units per day this month, SK said. SK Telecom, which does not offer the iPhone, sharply increased its subsidies for Omnia 2, to stave off the challenge from the iPhone.

The iPhone, which is offered exclusively via second-ranked KT, also posted 5,000 units of daily sales this month, according to a local report yesterday. – read more at The Korea Herald…

A model tests the three-dimensional (3D) images beamed on Samsung Electronics’ latest 55-inch liquid-crystal display (LCD) screen developed for 3D-enabled televisions. (Korea Times)

By Kim Yoo-chul, Staff Reporter, The Korea Times – South Korea’s leading electronics players are beefing up their defense against patent abuse by introducing new measures to protect their technology and reputations.

Samsung Electronics, the leader in the chip and flat-screen industries, has increased the number of its staff specializing in patent issues by 300 to 550 since 2005, according to company representatives.

It says patent-related issues have emerged as one of the company’s top concerns in the face of intensified competition among rivals in the consumer electronics industry.

A growing number of patent trolls is another problem.

These individuals or companies enforce patents as an investment to collect royalties, rather than manufacture products or delivering services based on them.

LG Electronics is planning to increase the number of its patent staff by a “certain percentage” in 2010, while LG Display, the world’s No. 2 maker of LCD panels, is also reviewing the possibility of expanding its legal affairs capability, according to industry sources.

“It’s necessary for LG to constantly expand the number of patent staff to reinforce the negotiation power in international patent lawsuits,” an LG representative said.

Samsung Electronics has been involved in a years-long patent war with Rambus in chips. At the same time, the company has been tied up in a patent litigation with Japan’s Sharp in flat-screens and Finland’s Nokia in mobile phones.

“Samsung and Sharp have many patents related to LCD technology so these kinds of lawsuits will continue to occur as long as they make TVs,” said Kim Yoo-jin, an analyst at Taurus Investment & Securities. – read more at The Korea Times…

Apple's iPhone is a big hit in its first week of release in South Korea

By Kim Tong-hyung, Staff Reporter (The Korea Times) – Samsung Electronics and Apple are about to duke it out in Korea’s emerging “smart” phone market, and it looks like local Internet company, Daum (www.daum.net), will have a role in settling the bragging rights.

Daum, which operates the eponymous Web portal that trails only Naver (www.naver.com) in online traffic, is having all of its 1,000 employees choose between the newly released Apple iPhone and Samsung’s flagship smart phone, T-Omnia II, in the company’s free phone program.

Daum is desperate to get ahead in mobile Internet services, and by providing data-enabled handsets to employees for free and paying for their data expenses for the first two years, the company is looking to source innovation in-house.

It remains to be seen which between the iPhone and T-Omnia II end up as the phone of choice for Daum employees, and Samsung seems eager to advise them on their happy headache.

According to Daum officials, Samsung sent sales personnel to Daum’s Seoul headquarters to convince the company’s employees that T-Omnia II represents the better device.

The iPhone is released by KT, the country’s second-biggest mobile operator, while T-Omnia II is pitched by SK Telecom, the top wireless carrier that has a 50-percent-plus market share.

“We thought we were getting iPhones at first, but with T-Omnia II later becoming an option, there are more things to think about,” said a Daum employee.

“In the past few years, we have been putting much emphasis on delivering mobile Internet services and Apple’s mobile Internet devices, such as the iPhone and iPod Touch, were greatly considered when we developed new applications. So there has been a buzz in anticipation of an iPhone release among us for years, but you would have to say that T-Omnia II is an impressive device in its own right.”

Although it would be over-the-top to call the event the “Judgment of Daum,” it is easy to understand why the normally unflappable Samsung is touchy about the results.

Less than a week after its release, iPhones are flying off Korean shelves and showing promise to shake the hierarchy of the local handset market where Samsung and its bitter industry rival, LG Electronics, have been enjoying a near-duopoly. – read more at The Korea Times…