The only sensible option for LG is to sell its mobile division says analyst Horace Dediu

There are plenty of phone manufacturers struggling with vision and profitability in the smartphone space.

Apple, HTC and Samsung (perhaps Motorola in future) are booming but it's hard times for many others.

One such is Korean outfit LG, which has recently been heavily marketing its 3D devices, albeit to little obvious success.

Down, down

Running his sliderule over the company, market analyst Horace Dediu reckons it would make most sense for the consumer electronics firm to offload its mobile business altogether.

Indeed, the company has recently performed even worse than RIM, Nokia and Sony Ericsson, with its shares halving during 2011 and no profits since Q3 2009. The company's market capitalisation is only 0.9 of its book value compared to 1.1 for Nokia and 1.6 for RIM.

"Selling the loss-making business is probably what investors want," said Harrison Cho, an analyst at KB Investment & Securities.

"But even with that option, LG wouldn't get much from the sale. They should have sold it long ago before the overall landscape got tougher."

The uncertainty over Android won't help matters either, especially as the only other option Window Phone - which LG already supports - is looking increasingly Nokia-centric.

[source: Asymco]