Comments on what to expect 2008 and LG’s role
Posted: January 9th, 2008, by Yunho Chung
Since everybody are having their eyes on Las Vegas this week and 2008 just has started, also I must give some comments on what to expect on the technology side in 2008. A list from BBC (as mentioned in the previous post) suggests Ultra Mobile PC’s, IPTV, WIMAX, Mobile VoIP and “Web to go”. Korean ET News in turn suggests VoIP, IPTV, HSDPA, Revision A and WiBro (focused on Korea). The lists do correlate in many ways and I do not want to make my own prediction. Instead it is interesting to pinpoint LG as a company to have an eye open for. The huge conglomerate has interest in both the hardware and software side which makes it a very interesting and different market approach. They are not market leading anywhere but are present everywhere (almost) in the Korean TMT (Telecom, Media, Technology) sector.
They produce handsets, TV’s and other hardware through LG Electronics, provide IPTV, VoIP and Broadband services through LG Dacom/Powercom, they are a MNO via LG Telecom and so on. They don’t have a license to be service providers for WiBro but they have already released phones and computers with integrated support. So they have an interest in all of the fields popular media consider to be the “hot ones” in 2008. As the TMT sector keeps merging it will be very interesting to see how this will benefit LG. In 2008, they will launch the CDMA version of HSPA called Revision A as the only provider and will have the benefit towards the other 3g providers (KTF and SKT) by not having to take the burden of heavy investment. The success is not granted but they seem to be aiming at price conscious customers and the width of their services makes them competitive. They minimize the risks and at the same time does not miss out on any of the hot topics in TMT the coming years.
