ASIA : LG has created a buzz in the mobile phone industry after developing a device that especially caters to the religious and geographic needs of the huge Middle East Muslim market.

LGE, Chairman and CEO John Koo announced that the company has completed the
development of a GPRS mobile phone (model: G5300) equipped with a compass and programmed to indicate direction. This cell phone can point towards Mecca (Quiblah), a service that will prove very useful for Muslims.The company has launched the product on the market already.

Muslims perform Salat (prayers) to Allah in their prescribed ritual five times a day - at sunrise, noon, afternoon, sunset, and midnight. They have to face the direction of Kaaba (the House of Allah) in Mecca, but they have difficulty locating the direction in the desert.

By setting the -5300-compass to the north and inputting their location information, Muslims can now easily find the direction of Mecca. With this feature, the handset positions itself as a specialized functional phone in the Middle East market. In particular, it is expected to spur a boom in the region because the compass may be used even where GPS services are unavailable.

In addition to the Arab nations, LGE is set to expand the compass phone market to target the 1.1 billion Muslims all over the world, including those in Asian nations such as
Malaysia and Indonesia.

"Currently, mobile phones are taking to the mainstream by catering to local geographical
and cultural demands. The unveiling of the compass mobile phone at this time is part of
such strategy to meet customer needs," said Yi Ho, Managing Vice President of the LGE GSM Marketing Team.