New York — LG Mobile Phones boosted its U.S. cellular-phone shipments in the first half by 20 percent to a record 16.8 million units, thanks in part to new touchscreen and QWERTY-keyboard models, said Ehtisham Rabbani, product strategy and marketing VP.
During a summer line show here, Rabbani pointed to the success of the recently introduced touchscreen-equipped AT&T Vu and Verizon Dare, which lack hard-dialing and QWERTY keypads; a second-generation enV2 phone with QWERTY keypad; and an upgraded Chocolate phone that boasts greater music-storage capacity and battery life.
To keep the momentum going, Rabbani told TWICE that the company plans to launch more touchscreen phones in the second half, more phones incorporating high-speed CDMA 1x EV-DO Rev. A data technology, and more QWERTY-keypad phones. “In QWERTY phones, we lead in unit sales in the U.S., and we will defend that position,” he said.
During his presentation, Rabbani unveiled a new TV ad for the Dare, which he called the top-selling high-end phone at Verizon. He also announced the company is renewing its sponsorship of the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, which raises money to buy instruments for elementary-school music programs. LG has produced a TV public service ad in which musician Natasha Bedingford appears.
