LG Application Store aims to sate WinMo, Android and featurephone users alike

By Vlad Savov

posted July 1st 2010 4:47AM

Like a bad perm in the 1980s, you just can't be hip in the mobile world these days without an app store. We had secretly hoped that LG would take the wise route, à la Motorola with Android, of supporting a better established app platform and sticking to serving out delectable hardware, but alas it ain't so. The Korean company is today unveiling an "all new" Application Store with over 3,000 apps in tow, about half of which are aimed at featurephones. The rest seem to be targeting Windows Mobile devices, though LG promises Android-compatible apps will also be available later in the year, all set to deliver "greater value and genuine benefits" to owners of LG handsets. Judging by the early roster of 23 countries, this effort has "emerging markets" written all over it, but there are ambitions to bring this Store to Western Europe as well. Oh goodie!

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With A New Applications Store, LG Opens Up To Both Feature Phone And Smartphone Users

Seoul (Korea Newswire) July 1, 2010 -- LG Electronics (LG) today announced the opening of an all-new LG Application Store, with more than twice as many apps targeting users of both feature phones and smartphones in 33 countries.

Having comprehensively updated its Application Store, LG is now ready to offer customers a wide range of fun and useful apps including exciting games like The SIMS 3, Asphalt 4 and popular applications from SPB Series, for its mid- to high-end feature phones and smartphones. Android applications will be also available at LG's store later this year.

"Today, more and more people want mobile devices that make their lives easier and more exciting through the right combination of applications. To meet this growing demand, we've put a great deal of effort into strengthening our application offerings for all types of phone owners," said Dr. Skott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. "By studying customer insights and collaborating with top-level companies, LG is working to produce some of the best applications on the market, and a truly singular mobile experience for our customers."

Following the revamp, the LG Application Store will offer more than 3,000 applications from its cleanly designed, easy-to-use new site. Approximately half of the applications will be devoted to feature phones, a significant number in a market that has, to date, been overwhelmingly focused on smartphones.

According to research by Strategy Analytics, a market research company, over 90 percent of feature phone owners in the US and UK are interested in downloading and installing applications such as SNS (Social Networking Service), IM (Instant Messenger), VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), and navigation and mapping. Having taken the lead in mid- and high-end feature phones that are adopting many of the trappings of smartphones, LG, through its new, improved Application Store, is offering consumers more ways than ever to use their feature phones in creative and dynamic ways.

Along with a range of applications for Windows OS phones that are already on sale, the new LG Application Store will also extend its line-up of applications for Android-powered smartphones at the end of this year. With demand for Android-powered phones set to surge worldwide, the LG Application Store is well placed to enhance consumer's mobile experience, offering greater value and genuine benefits to owners of LG's Android smartphones.

The all new LG Application Store opens today in 23 markets. LG aims to increase the number of applications in the LG Application Store to 4,000 by the end of this year and to expand the service to 33 countries including the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain and Iran. To experience the new LG Application Store, visit http://www.lgapplication.com.

News Source: LG Electronics Inc.
Web Site: http://www.lge.co.kr