LG Electronics recently announced its exit from the smartphone market, having shed its smartphone arm as a result of some retooling of the operations of the South Korean tech company. It was also reported that some of its smartphones that were caught in the decision to exit the smartphone production were given out at a hugely discounted price to its Korean employees.
Reports monitored from South Korea now indicate that LG Electronics will begin the sales of Apple iPhones in its 400 LG Best shops across the country in a move that is already drawing some flak from some industry watchers. Indeed LG faced a lot of resistance even from the national distributors association. Still, the company is undeterred in its decision, which can be viewed as a shrewd move from the business angle. It is also known that LG is still in talks with the Distribution Association as regards its iPhone sales decision.
The story first broke a couple of weeks back but LG later jettisoned the idea due to several backlash in the domestic market, especially from the Distribution Association. However it looks like the company has now decided to go ahead with the sales of iPhones in its LG Best shops in Korea.
LG Electronics officially withdrew from the mobile business effective at the end of July, hence its decision to begin iPhone sales in its extensive LG Best shops network in South Korea. The move seems a delicate one, as a few other Apple products are included in the sales plan of LG. These are Apple watches and iPads, although the Macbook and other Apple PC offerings are excluded because LG is still producing these devices. There is no after-sales support in the sales decision by LG. So buyers of Apple devices from the LG Best shops will have to seek customer support elsewhere for their devices.
It is most probable that LG and Apple had reached some understanding for the sales of Apple iPhones in LG Best shops across South Korea. It is known that Apple had earlier approached LG on the possibility of using the LG Best network of shops for the sale of Apple iPhones when it became known that LG was exiting the smartphone market. Ultimately, both LG and Apple will benefit from this sales arrangement.
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