Samsung launched a new flagship touchscreen device yesterday and said it was on track to increase its share of the global handset market this year. “We are very confident that we will continuously increase our market share not only in advanced countries… but also in the emerging market,” Hong Won-pyo, an executive vice-president at Samsung’s mobile division, told Reuters at a press event. He added that he was “confident” that the handset vendor – the world’s second-largest after Nokia – would increase its market share to 20 percent in 2009 compared to 18 percent at the end of last year. According to the report, Samsung had previously said it was aiming to sell more than 200 million units in 2009 (similar to 2008), and expected the overall handset market to shrink by a high single-digit percent.

Meanwhile, Samsung hosted a series of events in London, Dubai and Singapore yesterday to unveil its new touchscreen known as ‘Jet’ (pictured above left). In a press release, Samsung said the phone boasts world firsts in both display technology and processor speed; it features the vendor’s 16M WVGA AMOLED display and an 800MHz application processor. Hong said Samsung was talking to major operators including Vodafone and France Telecom’s Orange to offer the device, which will be supported by a £5 million advertising campaign. Samsung also separately showcased three new smartphones in its existing Omnia touchscreen range at this week’s CommunicAsia event in Singapore. The new devices are the Omnia II (I8000), OmniaPRO (B7610) and OmniaLITE (B7300). Verizon Wireless was confirmed as one of the mobile operators that will offer the Omina II.