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LG Electronics today announced a $427 million profit for the first quarter of this year, "mainly from robust sales in handsets and flat panel TVs."

"The company said it sold 24.4 million mobile handsets in the quarter, a record performance," notes the AP's Kelly Olsen. "Phone sales were led by the high-end Viewty, Voyager and Venus models."

Bloomberg's William Sim says that may mean LG has "passed Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd. as the fourth-largest [mobile phone] vendor."

"LG has said it aims to sell more than 100 million handsets this year, compared with 80.5 million units in 2007," notes the WSJ's In-Soo Nam.

More here from the International Herald Tribune ... more here from The Globe and Mail ... more here from Telecoms Korea ... more here from ZDNet Korea ... more here from The Economic Times ... and the press release is here.