[Wayde]

LG’s newest video phone is on display today at CeBIT 2006 where an oversized reproduction is bringing attention to the LG booth. This mock up of the LG-V9000 features a real LCD display and light up buttons. But the real story isn’t simply a new digital video phone from LG but the deployment of its new Digital Multimedia Broadcast service to Europe starting with Germany this spring.

LG had a breakthrough last year in the development of new Code-Division Multiplexing (CDM) chips. The chip is a Digital Multimedia Broadcast receiver specially optimized for mobile handsets. The chip receives satellite signals but more importantly represents vast improvements over previous models that were too large and consumed too much power. The new CDM chips are cost effective for mass production and can be used in the newest, sleek mobile phone designs like the LG-V9000.

LG’s new video phone is an attractive high-end handset with a wide swing LCD screen. It’s compatible with GSM (2G)/ GPRS (2.5G) / UMTS (WCDMA) (3G) and Digital Mobile Broadcasts. LG boasts a charge that’ll be good for three hours of TV viewing through its 2.2 inch, 262K colour swivel LCD display. The display will feature video enhancements from LG’s own Mobile XD Engine. The phone will also feature a 1.3 Megapixel camera.

European networks represent 75% of the world’s handset market, making it here will give LG’s mobile TV considerable momentum. The DMB services are scheduled to start test operations in May with full commercial availability in June. The DMB service’s convergence with the release of the LG-V9000 is part of LG’s master strategy to have fully functional TV phones in the hands of customers just in time for the World Cup.

President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications, Mr. Mun-Hwa Park said, “This reflects LG’s smart, pre-emptive strategy in the highly competitive 3G UMTS(WCDMA) market and we believe this will secure our market leadership in the category.”

Recent research from Strategy Analytics (SA) has predicted the TV phone market should expand tenfold by 2010. Currently 8 million videophones are said to be in operation worldwide accounting for 1% of handsets overall. SA predicts this will rise to 120 million units representing 10% of all handsets by the end of the decade.

Wayde
www.gizmocafe.com