A 30 percent year-on-year fall in third quarter mobile revenues has caused South Korean electronics vendor LG to report a record quarterly operating loss (KRW185 billion/US$164 million). Losses from the handset business snowballed to a record KRW304 billion and margins plunged to a negative 10 percent, hit by a weak lineup of smartphones and growing development and marketing costs to prop up faltering sales of low-priced models. The world’s third-largest handset vendor shipped 28.4 million handsets in the quarter, reflecting a 32 percent decline in sales year-over-year. 

LG noted in a statement that it expects the global introduction of its new smartphone, Optimus One, and new Windows Phone 7 models “to generate a positive response from consumers in the coming months.” Gartner claims that in the second quarter of 2010 LG had a smartphone share of just 1.2 percent. Reuters reports that the Android-based Optimus One has sold 200,000 units since its launch in Korea three weeks ago and LG aims to sell at least 10 million units globally. The company has recently made a number of high-profile management changes in an effort to turnaround company fortunes. “Stronger competitiveness in global smartphones” is one of the drivers LG expects to contribute to the company’s overall improved performance in the future, it noted in a statement today.