LG said it has sold 1 million of its Optimus One Android smartphones worldwide, a bright spot of news for the handset maker, which has struggled to gain traction in the smartphone market.
The company said it reached the milestone 40 days after the device first debuted. The Optimus One is a mid-range Android handset that has apparently found wide appeal among first-time smartphone buyers. The device runs Android 2.2, has a 600 MHz processor, 3.2-inch screen, 3-megapixel camera and WiFi. LG said the device will soon be available from 120 operators and expects to ship 10 million units, which would be a first for the company.
LG's Optimus line of phones is similar to Samsung's higher-end Galaxy S line. By comparison, Samsung said it sold 1 million Galaxy S phones within the first three weeks of global availability, and the company sold 1 million in the U.S. market after 45 days of availability.
In the United States, LG's phone is sold as the Optimus S on Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) and Optimus T on T-Mobile USA. Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) is set to offer the LG Vortex, an Optimus device, starting Nov. 18.
While LG still claims the No. 3 handset maker ranking in terms of volume, its smartphone market share remains minuscule--something LG has vowed to reverse. In the third quarter, LG's mobile communications unit posted a record operating loss of $270 million, which came on the back of a $101 million operating loss in the second quarter. Sales dropped 30 percent in the third quarter year-over-year. LG shipped 28.4 million units in the third quarter, down 10 percent from the year-ago quarter and down 7 percent from the second quarter.
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