Disappointing Mobile Results Cause Lead to LG Management Shake-Up

Nam Yong has just resigned from his role as CEO of South Korean electronics group LG.  With a 33% fall in profits in the second quarter, the world's third biggest mobile phone manufacturer clearly needed a change of direction, which will be provided by its current vice-president, Koo Bon-Joon, who will step up to the top job in October.

Given how quiet things have been since the spring, we had noticed that LG was failing to keep up.  It's hard to deny that in the mobile phone market, and especially with smartphones, the brand has been rather quiet of late-despite its good intentions at the last edition of the Mobile World Congress.

And it's the lack of activity in the smartphone segment that's really hit LG's bottom line. The phones that they are selling don't cost a lot and the manufacturer is having real trouble establishing a name for itself in a sector where its rivals are enjoying substantial profits.

It's a little late in the day for LG to launch its two new Android-based smartphones, the Optimus One and Optimus Chic; Samsung is already a long way ahead in this field.  Despite ambitious targets like selling 10 million phones worldwide before the end of the year, we somehow doubt that the two new models will represent very serious competition for the current crop of smartphones.





> Buyer's Guides: Our Pick of The Best Products