14 DAY TRIAL // LG Electronics, currently the fourth largest handset manufacturer in the world, after Nokia, Samsung and Motorola, has opened a new European Design Centre in London. More exactly, the Centre is located in the Covent Garden district and it was formally opened yesterday by The Duke of York, His Royal Highness Prince Andrew.
LG needs a European Design Centre in order to come up with products that can better answer the needs of users from the old continent. By 2009, the London Centre will host 22 expert designers from all over Europe.
The best part of this news is that, in August, LG will unveil what the company calls the "first fully European designed" mobile phone. There's no word yet on what the new LG handset will look like or what features it will pack, but it sounds quite promising.
"The UK has long proven itself to be a strong, positive environment for the creative industries, as well as a European base for many multi-national businesses," said Prince Andrew. "We are seeing growing investment by companies such as LG in design facilities here and they are very welcome. LG could have chosen any of several global cities for this centre. That they chose London is tremendous news for the UK and testament to the world-class business environment we're creating here."
Mr. James Kim, president and CEO of LG Electronics Europe, further added: "Our new European Design Centre has been established to provide our design team with the optimum creative environment, which includes extensive libraries and leading technologies to aid in the design process. There are significant cultural and technical differences between Europe and other markets. As a result, for LG to grow its market presence in Europe it must invest in and be sensitive to the consumer's requirements, while responding to technical and cultural differences."
The London Design Centre opening comes after the closing of the one based in Milan, Italy, operational since 2002. All the employees from Milan have received proposals of working at the new London Centre, so it's more like a change of location rather than a closing for the Milan facility.
