How Will LG Fare Against Apple?
As Apple’s App Store turned 1 earlier this month, the popular electronics company LG has unveiled the latest competitor to Apple’s coveted crown as the market leader in the applications for smartphones market.
The LG Application Store (a longwinded name, but still) is about to launch officially to consumers in the Asian market, where the business will have its focus for the time being.
The reason the company have decided to do this is due to the fact that they do not want to unveil such a big investment globally in case the idea should fail. An international flop could prove disastrous for the electronics company, especially considering it is licking its wounds because of the recession.
Despite the apparent lack of confidence in the potential of a rival to Apple, LG have said that the objective of the LG App Store’s launch in Asia is to see whether or not there is a platform for expansion on an international scale towards the end of the year. There are condition plans for the development of the software in 22 countries at the moment.
It could be said that LG have got very good chances of succeeding in this market, as currently Apple’s App Store has very limited restrictions to the iPhone. Even though the iPhone has a big following of millions and surpassed a billion app downloads earlier this year, LG have the advantage of many different smartphones for the store to be available on.
Should the concept prove really successful for LG, aspirations could even turn to launching the App Store to other smartphones by other manufacturers, as all of the apps that are to be sold in the marketplace are to be compatible with Windows Mobile – the operating system of choice for many smartphones of many different brands.
It could be said that the odds are stacked against LG if they want to launch their baby in the dominating market of the US. In the land of Blackberries and iPhones and where the company lags behind other businesses like Samsung and Nokia, the electronics company could find themselves compromised.
It seems that the company has picked up on this, as plans for expansion later this year have not incorporated this key market as of yet.
At launch in the Asia-Pacific region, which encompasses Japan, Australia and Singapore to name a few, there is understood to be as many as 1,400 applications available for consumers to buy and download if they so wish. In a concept similar to that of Apple’s App Store, there are to be some applications which are free to consumers – 100, in fact.
Should the LG App Store prove to be successful, it is understood that the amount of applications that are available when the software hits Europe will increase to 2,000 – with the potential for more freebies for consumers to try out.
Currently, LG hold the number three spot in the world as a handset maker – this could prove to be a great leverage when obtaining market share with their App Store in the near future.
At the moment, it is believed that LG and Apple are not going to be battling it out as the frontrunners in the applications market for long. It is understood that there are a variety of electronics companies that are scrambling desperately to drum up a store to vie for the attention of consumers and to grab some of their hard-earned cash.
It seems the LG App Store is almost ready to propel internationally, as the store’s many apps already have the ability to support 15 different languages. There are also debates on how the store will be phased into the European market, with some people calling it a ‘bleeding’ process.
Here’s what one expert thinks, looking at LG’s decision to hit Europe before the US from a tactical, business view. He said: “LG is more successful in Europe than the U.S. and will go after the market with the highest penetration first. In Europe the open nature of the market works better for LG and they have a lot more freedom.”
Whether LG can grasp some business from other App stores like Ovi from Nokia is yet to be seen. Currently, some experts have said that the company has been a little late in offering an App Store to their consumers.
However, this lapse when compared to other companies has made LG a lot wiser, according to a CEO from the company, who said: “Unlike other mobile-phone online stores, LG’s intention is not to censor the type of applications that are available to our customers, but only to ensure that they meet the high standards for quality and compatibility.”
It could be said that this statement is a slash at one App Store in question. Which App Store that is, however, I will leave completely with you to decide. (Cough, cough – Apple.)
From what the top man at LG said, it could be wise to gather that the company is trying to gain leverage from some of the things that Apple got wrong when they launched their App Store.
Apple’s efforts were bold as the company was the first to launch such a business model. Even though there were some controversies along the way (like the strict censorship of some apps in recent months and how the strict censorship let through some controversial apps like the baby-shaking program), the App Store has come through relatively unscathed.
“It’s important to understand that unlike other mobile-phone manufacturers, LG’s Application Store is not intended to be a new or separate business model,” the CEO added.
From the research gathered for this report, it appears that LG are putting the emphasis on making a few, really good apps available for their consumers rather than a load of rubbish ones.
Whether this concept works out for them in the Asia-Pacific region is yet to be seen. What is also yet to be seen is whether the LG App Store will ever see the light of day here in Europe.
