For the first time in its history, LG Electronics has ranked 3rd among the largest global handset distributors, surpassing the amounts shipped by Motorola and Sony Ericsson, respectively.

According to JoongAng Daily, a South Korea-based newspaper, the multinational corporation achieved its annual target of shipping over 100 million handsets in 2008, a 25% increase in comparison to 80.7 million in 2007. 

“We will be more aggressive, albeit selectively, in marketing our key strategic models, to maintain the premium image on our products and to increase the likelihood of success in the low-tier market,” an LG spokesman said.

On another note, Digitimes has published a projected sales chart among the top-five handset vendors in 2008 which can be found here.