BERLIN ― An executive of LG Electronics said Sunday that it aims to take 20 percent of global 3-D TV sales by the end of this year.

In a press conference with the Korean media on the sidelines of the global trade show IFA 2011, Kwon Hee-won, the company’s TV chief, said it was aiming for more than 20 percent of the world’s 3-D TV market with the firm’s Cinema 3D TV based on “passive glasses” technology.

“As of now, the share of the 3-D TVs in the world’s liquid-crystal display TV industry has soared 7-10 percent and the portion is rising,” he said. “LG’s market share is on the increase every day and we believe the situation will even get better by mid-October.”

According to data from market research firm DisplaySearch, LG Electronics recorded 12.4 percent in the global 3-D TV market in the second quarter of this year, up from 8.3 percent from the first quarter, marking itself as the world’s third-biggest 3-D TV maker.

Its rivals Samsung Electronics and Sony recorded 34.4 percent and 17.5 percent, respectively, during the same term.

“Getting a 20 percent share in the market is possible by next year and we could become the top player if our figure (of the 3-D TV market) climbs up to 25 to 30 percent,” said Kwon, indicating that its increased share would shrink the figures for other players.

He added that other TV makers, such as Toshiba and Philips, have adopted film-patterned retarder technology similar to LG’s to build 3-D TV sets.

“We have many models that were launched in June and the penetration rate is increasing at a fast pace,” said Kwon.

Kown said that it was difficult to apply the glasses-free 3-D TV featured at IFA 2011 tolarge screens.

“Glasses-free 3-D TV is the direction to go in the next three to four years, but it will still take time to apply it on large screens,” Kwon said.

By Cho Ji-hyun, Korea Herald correspondent
 (sharon@heraldcorp.com)