LG`s touch-screen phones target U.S. market

LG`s touch-screen phones target U.S. market
(Korea Herald 2007-10-05 10:02 )

LG Electronics will make its way into the U.S. mobile-phone market with its premium touch-screen phones, the company said yesterday.
The world`s fifth-largest mobile phone maker is working with Verizon Wireless, the second-largest U.S. mobile-phone service provider, to launch its touch-screen phones, Voyager and Venus, in the U.S. market next month, the company said in a statement.
The launch of the two phones is considered to be in line with Verizon`s plans to challenge its competitor, Apple Inc`s iPhone, by introducing premium touch-screen phones. Apple last month cut the price of the iPhone by $200 in a bid to broaden its appeal for the upcoming holiday season, according to Bloomberg.
LG`s Voyager is a flip phone equipped with a 2.8 inch touch-screen and a QWERTY keyboard which provides easier multimedia services. Users can surf the internet, send and receive messages, and watch and listen to mobile TV on its dual speakers by simply touching the outer LCD screen, without opening the phone. It also supports such strong multimedia functions as "VZ Navigator," Verizon`s global positioning system, 2 mega-pixel camera and Bluetooth, the company said.
The company`s other touch-sensitive music phone, the Venus, is a stylish slide phone. Its large screens adopted the world`s first "Interactive User Interface," which enables the upper and lower screens to interact with each other when operating the navigation system. Venus also provides VZ Navigator, stereo Bluetooth, multi-tasking and a 2 mega-pixel camera.
Both the Voyager and Venus will support "Vcast," Verizon`s music downloading service while providing a micro Secure Digital memory card of maximum 8 GB where users can store up to 2,000 songs, company officials said.
By Jeong Hyeon-ji (hannahj@heraldm.com)