LG Electronics said Monday it has sold more than 10,000 units of its latest smartwatch less than a month since its release, after a top Korean Go player wore the device during his historical battle in March with an artificial intelligence program designed to play the Asian board game.
The Korean firm said it has been making efforts to expand the supply of the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition both at home and abroad as the demand remained above its earlier expectations. First released in April, daily average sales of the smartwatch are estimated at 500 units.
Korean Go player Lee Se-dol looks at his LG Watch Urbane (Yonhap)
The device is significant as it does not need to link to smartphones to make phone calls, send massages and use other features that call for a network connection.
The smartwatch, which runs on the Android Wear platform, is also capable of connecting to Apple's iOS as well, LG added. The device also boasts dust- and water-resistant features, capable of staying under one meter of water for up to 30 minutes.
Industry watchers said the sound sales of the smartwatch came after the device grabbed the market's attention when the popular Korean Go player Lee Se-dol wore it during his match with Google's AlphaGo program.
In March, Google's AlphaGo program defeated Lee, a ninth-dan Go player with 18 international titles, in four out of five matches in the man-versus-computer showdown.
"Although monthly sales of 10,000 cannot be considered a big hit, the performance is still better than expected considering the latest slump in the global smartwatch market," an industry watcher said.
According to U.S.-based industry tracker Strategy Analytics, the global shipment of smartwatches came to 4.2 million in the January-March period, falling sharply from 8.1 million posted in the fourth quarter. (Yonhap)