LG brings Pop to SA
2010-04-22 21:20
Cape Town - LG has announced that it is bringing the popular LG Pop cellphone to SA.
Officially named the LG GD510 Pop, the phone has been a popular seller in Europe and LG thinks it could turn the SA on its head with affordable touch technology.
"It's a very simple phone. Lots of phones have too many buttons to push - this phone is what people are looking for, we think," Robbie Johnson business unit head at LG told News24.
"The phone has been in Europe for six months and we've sold over a million units," he added.
The LG Pop is similar to the KP500, but Johnson said that they had focussed on features that users would find most useful and removed those that were cost-restrictive. He dismissed suggestions that LG was looking to grab market share from Apple's iPhone.
No 3G
"Look, the iPhone is a unique product in the market place, but you don't need a Ferrari in your garage if you just need to get from point A to B. We are bringing touch to the mass market at this price point," he said.
UK forums have had praise for the Pop despite its apparent lack of features compared to high-end cellphones.
"The choice of a simple brushed metal effect on the back and silver paint on the front is also very elegant, though real metal would obviously have been preferable," said Trustedreviews.com, which also praised the phone for being small.
According to LG, the phone plays popular formats of music and video, has 8GB of internal memory and a 3.0 megapixel camera. However, there is no 3G.
"Look, there's a lot of hype around 3G. It's mainly used for two things: Video calling and high speed internet access. We had to decide whether we add 3G and increase the price, but we found that most people don't browse the internet much on their phones.
"And how many people do you know who use video calling?" said Johnson.
Smart phone market
He said that the phone was intended to be user-friendly and forums in the UK appear to agree that the device is easy to use.
"The LG POP GD510 doesn't try to be a do-everything smart phone. The POP is instead pitched at delivering a fun package, with a friendly user experience and the sort of features its target audience are after," said Techradar.com.
Johnson said that LG intends growing its app store and the smart phone market in SA.
"We have an app store and we're growing into the smart phone market. Soon, we'll be launching a Google Android phone in SA. People don't realise that LG invented touch and were first to bring 3G phones to market," he said.
The LG Pop has a recommended retail price of R1 749 and will available at the end of April.
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