LG to release G Pad tablet in more overseas markets

LG Electronics plans to ship its flagship tablet G Pad to more markets to boost its sagging sales of the device in time for the year-end shopping season.

LG’s G Pad 8.3 tablet is expected to hit 50 markets around the world including Japan, Canada and Brazil by the end of this year, according to news reports.

Currently, the tablet PC is available at major retailers in 20 countries, including Best Buy in the United States, Euronics in Italy and others in France and Britain.

Experts see the latest move as an effort to secure a stable market share as a number of data indicate that the Korean firm is losing its global standing in the smart device market.

According to the latest data released by U.S. market research institute Strategy Analytics, LG lost its ground to Chinese smartphone makers such as Huawei and Lenovo in terms of the number of smartphone sales during the July-to-September period.

The research institute also said that LG secured a 0.2 percent market share in the world’s tablet PC market in the third quarter of this year.

The figure for the Korean firm is much lower than those of its competitors such as Apple, which marked 27.1 percent, Samsung Electronics (20.2 percent), ASUS (6.8 percent) and Lenovo (4.4 percent).

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)