LG Electronics investing heavily in smartphones

By John Poirier

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - LG Electronics Inc is investing heavily in developing its smartphone business as it faces increasing global competition, the chief executive of the South Korean company said on Tuesday.

LG CEO Yong Nam told an audience at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars that his company no longer sees Nokia Corp and Sony Ericsson as its main competition.

Instead, it now views the competition as Apple Inc, maker of the popular iPhone; Canada's Research In Motion Ltd, which makes the BlackBerry handsets; and Palm Inc, he said.

He declined to provide estimates of LG's smartphone sales for 2010.

But Nam, speaking in English without a translator, told the audience that "we are investing heavily" at the moment in smartphones. "We're not yet there but we'll get there."

In February, Microsoft Corp signed a deal with LG Electronics, under which the Korean company will use Windows software in most of its smartphones.

LG is the world's third-largest cellphone maker, but it is not among top vendors of smartphones.

The smartphone market has been one of the rare bright spots of the shrinking cellphone market this year, with volumes rising 4 percent from a year ago in the third quarter, according to research firm Canalys.