LG Electronics has been making all-out marketing efforts for its upcoming marquee smartphone G5 and a smart device lineup, dubbed Friends, ahead of their official release in the coming days.

After having suffered lackluster sales of the G4 smartphone last year, LG took a bold move by introducing its first modular smartphone G5 and a group of smart devices -- including a 360-degree camera, a virtual reality headset, a ball-shape home monitoring robot, and a toy drone -- which can be controlled by the G5. 

The latest marketing efforts were announced at LG’s developers conference, Dev Concert 2016, held in Seoul on Thursday, where Korean developers and journalists got a hands-on experience of the devices for the first time.

Taking part in the event, Cho Ju-no, LG’s mobile business head, announced a plan to launch an online commerce website for developers and consumers.

“LG will open the online commerce market where individual developers can introduce their products for sale to consumers without a hitch,” said the LG CEO, adding that the company would try to boost collaboration with creative and competent developers.

The announcement came days before the official release of the modular smartphone, reportedly scheduled for March 31.

Reflecting the recent surging interest from the global news media toward the G5 and its “friends,” Korean developers also paid a keen attention to the rather unique products, such as a two-wheeled vehicle and a handy VR goggles, much smaller than Samsung Electronics’ Gear VR.

More than 400 developers in the hardware and software sectors participated in the conference aimed at fostering collaboration between the tech firm and developers in a wide range of areas including those for VR content and mobile applications.

Of the some-400 participants, around 200 were developers from small and medium-sized businesses, according to LG.

The electronics firm plans to make software and hardware development kits public on its website (developer.lge.com) for Friends next month.

The Thursday conference was also in line with LG’s efforts to create an open ecosystem for the Friends devices, called LG Playground.
“Building an ecosystem for smart devices should be a long-term project,” LG’s chief technology officer Ahn Seung-kwon said.

“LG Playground, a platform not only for G5 but also the next flagship models, will be a venue where LG and developers can grow together,” he added.

The company is expected to go head-to-head with its compatriot rival Samsung to attract Silicon Valley developers as the two are slated to hold their own developers conference in California next month.

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