Dismissing concerns that March's devastating earthquake would weigh on Japan's consumer spending, LG Electronics Inc. said Tuesday that it is targeting 25 percent growth in annual mobile phone sales in Japan this year.
LG, which shipped 1.6 million units of mobile phones in the neighboring country last year, set its target for this year at 2 million as a new smartphone model is scheduled to launch there this month, the company said in a statement.
The sales goal, which represents the number of phones sold to wireless carriers, is expected to give LG a 5 percent share of Japan's mobile phone market that is ruled by local brands, it said.
LG's aggressive mobile phone sales target comes as Japanese consumers are feared to cut back on spending as a consequence of the March 11 earthquake that devastated Japan's northeastern region and disrupted the country's power supply. Japan's economy shrank 3.7 percent on-year in the first three months of this year.
The natural disaster "does not seem to have had a big impact" on Japan's demand for mobile phones, LG's spokesman Lee Hyung-geun said by phone.
LG, the world's third-largest mobile phone maker, forecasts that Japan's mobile phone market will reach 37 million units this year, he added.
LG has been scurrying to gain a stronger footing in Japan's consumer electronics market with its mobile phones and 3-D TVs.
In the mobile arena, it will strengthen collaboration with Japan's leading wireless carrier NTT DoCoMo Inc., which is poised to launch LG's Optimus Bright smartphone this month. The mobile carrier began selling the Optimus Pad, LG's first tablet computer, in March.
LG also aims to capitalize on the popularity of Korean pop culture in Japan, hoping that the Korean Wave spills over into the mobile field.
"Nokia, Motorola and other global firms failed to advance into the Japanese market, which is a graveyard for foreign brands," Lee Kyu-hong, head of LG's Japan office, said in a statement.
The mobile division of LG Electronics, also a leading home appliance maker, posted an operating loss in the last four quarters as it lagged in the lucrative smartphone market.
Its chief executive officer Koo Bon-joon told reporters earlier this month that LG's mobile business will not to turn around in the current quarter.