| LG to focus on Windows Mobile? |
Nov. 03, 2008
 LG Electronics and Microsoft have announced a "memorandum of understanding" focusing on Windows Mobile. Under the terms of the agreement, the companies say, they'll join forces to develop and market "converged mobile devices," such as successors to the KS20 smartphone pictured at left.
At today's announcement ceremony in South Korea, Yong Nam, vice-chairman and chief executive officer of LG Electronics (shown below to the right of Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft), claimed "This agreement between LG and Microsoft will create critical momentum in the industry. With this partnership, mobile computing will truly become an everyday reality, and LG and Microsoft will be at the forefront of it."
Microsoft's Steve Ballmer (left) and LG Electronics' Yong Nam announced ongoing collaboration centered on Windows Mobile
Source: LG Electronics
The companies added that their converged mobile device business will be "reinforced through incorporating LG's core competences in marketing and products in the mobile and IT sector, and Microsoft's proficiency in the Windows Mobile OS, applications, and service."
While only time will tell if the memorandum is worth the paper it has been printed on, the agreement appears to be good news for Windows Mobile. LG, citing overall global sales of $44 billion in 82 subsidiaries, calls itself the "world's leading producer of mobile handsets." However, the vast majority of these devices have been entry-level devices and feature phones.
 LG has, in fact, produced smartphones based on Windows Mobile in the past, such as the KS20, the Windows Mobile 6.0 device pictured at right. Earlier, the company released the Prada, which used a proprietary LG operating system to beat Apple's iPhone to market with a finger-oriented touchscreen display.
Still, the company's smartphone entries are little-known, even to industry experts. An article today on the InformationWeek website, for example, claimed "LG doesn't have a smartphone to call its own, and it is likely that LG is losing sales to competitors who do."
According to a recent report by ABI Research, LG is the world's fourth largest handset vendor, with a market share of 9.2 percent -- just behind third-ranked Motorola. However, Motorola recently reported disappointing sales and earnings, and is expected by ABI to be overtaken by LG "by the end of 3Q, 2008."
Further information
For our earlier coverage of ABI Research's market research, see here. For the Reuters story on the LG-Microsoft memorandum of understanding, see our sister website, eWEEK.com, here.
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