Live from the LG press conference at CES 2009

[11:01:30 AM] LG is pleased to be kicking off the 8am first-day press conference.

[11:03:54 AM] LG president and CEO Michael Ahn is first up, describing '08 as an important year and the American image of LG's brand as stylish design and smart tech. US sales last year totaled $13 billion.

[11:04:54 AM] Ahn says LG will not reduce marketing spending or R&D, even in the recession.

[11:07:37 AM] Environmental sustainability is to be a major focus in '09, building on '08 success with recycling programs and EnergyStar certifications. Ahn describing recession as an opportunity for LG to differentiate itself from the market.

[11:10:30 AM] And Ahn is off. Next up, Dr. Wu Paik, father of HD and CTO of LG. Received a lifetime Emmy award for his work (on the former). His first order of business for '09: getting rid of "those ugly-looking wires." Wireless HD sets to be uncompressed and speedy. But nevermind that -- we have 3D to discuss! 3D chipset to be integrated in sets Real Soon Now, and we'll see 3D displays at the booth. TruMotion 240 Hz tech, anti-blurring stuff, OTW. If the image on the slideshow is genuine, it's good-looking stuff.

[11:12:13 AM] LG LCD models OTW are 8" larger, and 101mm slimmer -- that's right, under 25mm. Sick, sick, sick. Should a TV put one in danger of papercuts?

LG Electronics

Sharon Fisher

LG Electronics is a South Korean manufacturer of consumer electronics devices, including cellular phones, Blu-ray players, and television sets. It says it employs more than 82,000 people working in 114 operations including 82 subsidiaries around the world, and had 2007 global sales of USD 44 billion. Like many manufacturers of LCD television sets, the company is struggling with both falling prices and falling demand, especially for large sets, as many early adopters have already bought their big TVs and the people who haven't yet are thinking maybe they can hold off a while. Tim Alessi, director of product development for LG's US subsidiary, told the Associated Press this week that it will be showing 35 new LCD TV models, but that the company expected to be sending fewer employees to CES than it had last year. Similarly, Blu-ray players are dropping in price to better compete with standard DVDs. LG is known for marketing splash -- such as making a 100-inch LCD HD TV, the biggest developed at the time -- but also for having its mouth write checks its body can't cash. Two years ago during CES, it announced a dual HD DVD/Blu-ray player. While the company did ship two models later that year, it has ended falling by the wayside along with the HD DVD format. The previous year, it had also announced Blu-ray and HD support that ended up not coming to fruition. One of LG's big events this year was the so-called "Scarlet TV Series," which was billed as though it were a television program but which was actually several models of HD television sets with a red-and-black color scheme ("TV series," get it?). It is unclear how much this actually helped them sell the television sets worldwide, though our own Scott Fulton really did go out and buy one.

The debut of LG's 'Scarlet' -- both the HDTV and the lady -- at a press event in London in April 2008.

But LG has shown genuine marketing savvy in making a series of alliances with companies ranging from Microsoft to Prada. Most recently, it announced three partners providing streaming content for its Blu-ray players that will enable consumers to use the devices for more than just playing discs -- which may become more critical as consumers show signs of moving beyond discs altogether. LG said in December it would reduce its production to 80% of capacity during the October-December quarter in the wake of expectations that the average selling prices of its LCD panels would fall by more than 20% between the third and fourth quarter, and a general softening of demand. The company remains aggressive, saying in September that it planned to increase its total display sales by 30% to $20 billion USD. However, as of January 1, it said it was reorganizing from its four traditional business units -- Digital Appliance (DA), Digital Display (DD), Digital Media (DM) and Mobile Communications (MC) -- into a new structure that include Mobile Communications and four completely new units: Home Entertainment (HE), Home Appliance (HA), Air Conditioning (AC) and Business Solutions (BS). The company did not say whether layoffs were part of this restructuring. It also intends to focus more on brand marketing.

[11:14:08 AM] NetFlix support was 2008 -- in 2009, we have YouTube support, announced here and now. The camera-wielding journos go a little crazy.

[11:14:35 AM] Mark Levinson namechecked -- expect LOTS more HD sound across most product lines.

[11:16:17 AM] And we're onward to phones. LG has a 2-microphone noise-canceling tech; they're demoing it with some very funny audio clips. "DSE" sounds great, though there's a ton of giggling in the audience. The tech should start entering phones in the second half of 2009.

[11:19:19 AM] ATSC Mobile DTV status report -- confirmation testing is underway and there's allegedly a chance it'll be a settled standard in the second half of the year. Sure. Onward to the inevitable green-tech section. LG is committed to a 30-megaton reduction of carbon emissions by 2020.

[11:20:05 AM] Oh no he didn't! Paik whips out the "one more thing" line amd shows a working 3G watch phone. The crowd burbles. It even looks good! Take that Macworld keynoters!

[11:23:16 AM] Up next, Peter Reiner, SVP for marketing (North America), freshly minted. Talking about reaching the consumer, meaning naturally the consumer's wallet. Really working the style + smart angle, and talking a lot about customization. Nuts to that; more of the 3G watch phone kthx...

[11:26:08 AM] Reiser's talking core tech -- Picture Wizard, Clear Voice II AV Mode II, Invisible speaker -- at the moment, the constellation of capabilities on 32" and larger sets. Highlights: TruMotion 240 Hz (again) for blur reduction, LED Mega Control for blacky blacks etc.; Energy Star to address eco-needs, and tech for customizability too.

[11:27:44 AM] Product-strategy VP Etisham Rabbani speaking now. More specifics, now re content providence: Announcing both YouTube and Yahoo Widgets deals today, not only YouTube. He speaks of Blu-ray as well, but do I detect a note of "meh?"

[11:29:55 AM] The product deluge continues -- 3 Blu-ray home systems, three series (43, 53, M7W) of LED monitors, and the list continues...lending to the sense that LG throws a LOT of stuff at the wall at these events.

[11:32:21 AM] And finally, some stats -- record unit growth (32.8%!) in '08. Sold one LG phone every second in US and owns US QWERTY-phone market with a 66% share. My Sidekick is troubled by this news and inserts typos throughout the live blog posts. Retroactive to posting, even.

[11:35:22 AM] Ten percent of US consumers last year switched from primarily-landline to primarily-mobile last year. Wow. And last year was was first for US where more texts were sent than voicecalls were made. So if that's so and QWERTY is driving that bus, why the heck are we staring down these multitouch handsets (I'm looking at you, LG Incite)? Won't someone grow a pair and ignore the iPhone on that?

[11:37:36 AM] Why does the LG Dare record video at 120 fps? Who sees that fast? Meh, but the phone's drawing pad's output is crazy beautiful. Still, the most appealing phone in the current flagship set to me is the QWERTY-friendly Lotus. It's hip to be square, indeed.

The projector at the LG conference shows the company's cutest gadget, its touchscreen wristwatch.

[11:40:44 AM] LG solar-powered mobile charger carkits for everyone... or everyone sitting this room, anyway. [NB: I don't fancy myself testing this and I don't accept random freebies, so there's an extra laying around if you want it and can find it.] But the thing I'm lurving is the SkyCharger, which seems to be a giant daycare center for phones -- drop your handset off in a locker, come back in an hour and it's juiced. 104 phones at a time it can handle! Imagine this outside a concert hall. Wow.

[11:41:57 AM] It's over -- MC forgot to mention honored guests before the wolf pack started scattering for the exits. Oops.