Sometimes, just sometimes, we think we've unraveled LG's phone strategy. But then the company surprises us and punches us back on our feed. And that's exactly what they've done right now.
Because apparently in Seoul they figured out how to market mobile phones; by giving them a sexy name! Yeah, you read it right. The name of LG's next phone has been announced. No specs, no exciting new design, stunning camera features but a name. The LG Velvet should regain the hearts of consumers worldwide.
We're laughing about it, and rightly so. If you want to achieve positive headlines, rave reviews and sales success, you have to do more than pure marketing. Innovate, improve, renew. Things we haven't seen so far from LG's new phone strategy. However, LG does promise a 5G phone with a "raindrop shaped camera layout and a design that looks both pleasing to the eye and pleasant to hold". Not things we think you'll win the war with, but who are we to judge? With the LG Velvet, LG is breaking new ground in terms of design. When we will have the Velvet in our hands is still unclear, but we can't wait.
Lowering expectations
And then without sarcasm, it's obviously not going very well with LG's phone division. The G-series is said to have ended and never broke through. Which is a shame because LG tried very hard and came up with some really cool ideas. So LG moved the LG G2 buttons to the back so that more screen space was created. The LG G3 was one of the first with fast and reliable phase detection autofocus for sharper images. The LG G4 experimented with different materials and the G5 was even partly modular and therefore expandable. Apparently the consumer could not bother it very much, huge sales successes were never achieved.
LG has to go back to the base and build up from there. From something simple and a new design philosophy can be a good fit. We sincerely hope that the phone world can use some stubborn participants.
