@MWC: As Samsung looms, LG promises Android, Windows Mobile phones: Mobile device maker to release app store by Q2

BARCELONA, Spain – LG Electronics Co. Ltd. said it will make smartphones running both the Windows Mobile and Android operating systems, and will release an application storefront in the second quarter.
LG also announced a new touch-based, 3D user interface – dubbed “3D S-Class” and aimed squarely at the feature-phone market – that the company implied is better than Apple Inc.’s iPhone UI.
The actions follow similar moves from a range of handset rivals. The world’s No. 1 handset maker, Nokia Corp., today unveiled the details of its Ovi-branded app store. Meantime, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd – a South Korean mobile device vendor that continues to stay ahead of LG in the global market – said it will also focus on touchscreen phones and promised to release Android-based phones by the end of this year.
Such actions underscore the new reality for the world’s handset makers: a profusion of operating systems, market demand for touchscreen devices and a trend toward app stores that connect consumers directly with application developers.
LG, the world’s No. 3 cellphone maker, said it will partner with Microsoft Corp. to build phones running the software giant’s new Windows Mobile operating system. LG said the first such device will be the GM-730, to go on sale in the first half of this year (where and how much it will cost were not announced.)
Interestingly, the GM-730 will combine Windows Mobile with LG’s newly announced 3D S-Class user interface. The UI features 3D graphics and touch-based navigation.
“The (S-Class) UI just makes sense,” said Chang Ma, VP of marketing for LG’s mobile-phones business. Ma added, apparently serious, that the UI “makes dreams come true.”
Ma promised the S-Class UI would be installed in a range of phones, both of the feature and smart variety.
Although LG used its press conference during the Mobile World Congress trade show here to crow about its new UI as well as its plans to support Windows Mobile, LG executives also acknowledged that the company would introduce multiple devices running Google Inc.’s Android operating system by the end of this year. The news follows statements by Samsung executives that Samsung too would release Android phones by the end of this year. Neither company provided details on its respective Android plans.
It’s no real surprise that both Samsung and LG will join Motorola Inc., HTC Corp. and others in building Android phones; LG and Samsung have based their business on building phones to carrier specifications, and there are a number of carriers worldwide – including Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc. – that support the Android platform.
Finally, LG said it would release an app store by the second quarter of this year. The company did not provide details, but the move follows the success of Apple Inc.’s App Store for its iPhone device. Firms including Google, Microsoft, Orange and Nokia have unveiled their own app stores.
For its part, LG rival Samsung – No. 2 in the world – said it would focus its efforts this year on touchscreen phones.
“People love touchscreen phones,” asserted JK Shin, head of the mobile communications division at Samsung.