By Matthew Henry
SYDNEY: LG Electronics has launched its ‘Chocolate’ mobile phone supported by a $2 million marketing campaign featuring a television commercial with the tagline ‘makes everything else look old fashioned’.
LG’s KG800 Chocolate phone was launched last night at a gala event held at the exclusive Ocean Room restaurant overlooking Sydney Harbour and the Opera House to a crowd of 220 guests, including the media and celebrities.
The KG800 is the world’s first mobile phone to feature a touch sensitive control pad and the first model in LG’s Black Label Series.
The phone adopts the fashionable slider form factor in a slimline package, and features a glossy piano black outer casing and a glowing red touch sensitive control pad which lights up as the user slides open the phone, revealing the numeric keypad.
According to LG, the product’s key feature is its unique design.
“We can now see that consumers are choosing handsets that reflect their personality, style and attitude rather than simply choosing a handset with the latest feature, as was the case only a few years ago,” said LG marketing manager – telecommunications, Carli Wilson.
“The Chocolate phone was developed representing LG’s firm belief that technology is nothing without design.”
The phone features a 1.3 megapixel digital camera, mp3 player with 128MB internal storage and Bluetooth, and will retail for $799. It will be available to electrical retailers including Harvey Norman, Dick Smith PowerHouse and all Telstra, Optus, Virgin Mobile and Vodafone retailers.
The Chocolate phone was first launched in Korea last November, and according to LG sold over 300,000 units in the first three months to claim seven per cent of the Korean mobile phone market.