DailyTech - LG Looks to Android to Boost Smartphone Market Share

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Gadgets LG Looks to Android to Boost Smartphone Market Share
Shane McGlaun (Blog) - January 13, 2010 10:01 AM

13 comment(s) - last by beerhound.. on Jan 14 at 9:32 PM

"Windows Mobile still has legacy issues that makes it challenging to compete in mobiles: we know it and Microsoft knows it."

The smartphone market is booming and many manufacturers are seeing their profits live and die by the popularity of their smartphones offerings. The smartphone segment is one of the few where margins can be high and demand is strong from consumers.

LG is the world's number three smartphone maker and the company is looking to grow its share of the market in 2010 by 20%. Reuters reports that LG plans to do this by focusing more on Android as the OS for its smartphone line. The South Korean company plans to offer at least 10 devices this year that run the Android OS.

That is interesting after LG signed with Microsoft in February 2009 to deploy smartphones with Windows Mobile as the operating system of choice. LG's Skott Ahn, president and CEO of mobile communications for LG said, "The fact that we'll have a bit more Android phones this year doesn't mean our ties with Microsoft are weakening." He continued saying, "Windows Mobile still has legacy issues that makes it challenging to compete in mobiles: we know it and Microsoft knows it."

The future of the Windows Mobile OS is murky with its market share falling as its competitors increase their share. In November 2009, Gartner statistics showed that the Windows Mobile OS held 7.9% of the market whiles the iPhone OS had grown to 17.1% of the market. At the same time rumors are circulating that Windows Mobile 7 might be delayed again due in part to stiff competition from other OS' like Android. Last year LG sold 117 million handsets, LG hopes to sell 140 million mobile phones in 2010 and claim 10% of the global market.

Analyst Han Eun-mee said, "LG should be able to post some growth in unit sales, but margins could come under pressure if the growth comes from the low-end."

LG plans to introduce at least ten more smartphones this year that run OS' other than Android, presumably most of those will be Windows Mobile handsets. However, some of the devices will be LiMo handsets according to LG making most of its smartphones reliant on Android.

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Huh?

By damianrobertjones on 1/13/2010 12:02:42 PM , Rating: 2

I've owned plenty of phones and have setup a few nokia's, iPhones, winmobs for exchange, along with a BeServer for two (yes) Blackberries.

I currently own and use a Toshiba TG01 with Winmob 6.5 and, basically, I use it to make calls, play music, couple of films, sync with exchange, GPS with CoPilot live and very little web access. It's fine and does all of the above with ease. It's fast, has an extended battery for those 1Ghz moments and barely causes and problems.

I, however, keep being told that my phone, along with Windows Mobile 6.5, doesn't cut it anymore. This, of course, confuses the living heck out of me?

Why is my phone not good enough when it does all I require?

RE: Huh?

By Fox5 on 1/13/2010 12:20:59 PM , Rating: 2

Because it requires a stylus to be functional. Also, it's not sexy or hot.

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RE: Huh?

By DLeRium on 1/13/2010 2:00:50 PM , Rating: 2

HTC's phones are finger friendly. WinMo is changing. Capacitive is the new thing, and the HTC HD2 is there. The US marketshare for WinMo is considerably smaller than the overseas marketshare. It's because we get the crappy phones.

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RE: Huh?

By damianrobertjones on 1/13/2010 3:08:34 PM , Rating: 2

Nope. The tg01 has a 4.1" screen with 6.5's bigger buttons. Haven't used on since I opened the box.

Keep up!

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RE: Huh?

By themaster08 on 1/13/2010 2:44:37 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
Why is my phone not good enough when it does all I require?

It is. WinMo and Symbian both suffer from the same problem. Their UI's both look like they came out of the Ark.

Android and iPhone OS bring a few things to the table that smartphones have dearly lacked, such as eye candy and ease of use, so that any idiot not willing to sacrifice a few hours of their time learning something new, can use them.

If you can live without such trivial features, and you're not a complete idiot, then WinMo and Symbian are both just as capable and feature-rich as Android, iPhone OS and the rest.

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Android

By Sazabi19 on 1/13/2010 11:38:45 AM , Rating: 5

I have a feeling that the Android OS line of phones will take off, especially once people are done being locked into their contract with AT&T (and some others). Apple and AT&T both suck, lets face it. I love my Droid <3

RE: Android

By hadifa on 1/13/2010 5:42:31 PM , Rating: 2

Well I had great hopes for Android and I still do but after getting my HTC magic, I see that Android still cannot overthrow or compete with the top dog being Iphone.

Android is a great mobile OS, the integration with google tools is phenomenon and there are great phones available for it or are in the pipeline but it strangely misses on some of the basics. After getting my phone I found out that there is no support for many languages like Hebrew, Arabic, Urdu and Persian.

The lack of support is not limited to ver 1.5 of Android but even extends to the latest version 2.1 and there is no word from google about even supporting these let alone when!

There are some workarounds but they usually require rooting the phone and none of the ones I've seen even remotely adequate.

I think android will gain some serious market share this year but it seems google lacks a bit in vision and experience departments!

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RE: Android

By beerhound on 1/14/2010 9:32:46 PM , Rating: 2

I think the biggest feature for Android is enabled by it being open source. When the software devs start getting some experience with the platform, the development pace is going to pick up. The features that are missing or not fully implemented now will be there soon. WinMo7 is delayed, Apple has been releasing on an annual cycle. (with bug fixing point releases in between) I think when the development community gets so momentum, they will easily be able to out pace the development cycle of those two competitors.

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Wow how market share changes...

By Fox5 on 1/13/2010 10:51:44 AM , Rating: 2

Just a year or two ago, Microsoft was a strong 2nd place for smart phones, now they're barely picking up table scraps.
The iphone alone makes up over 20% of the market, and android has taken off like an open-source rocket ship. Wonder if Ballmer gets the business model yet?

RE: Wow how market share changes...

By Roffles on 1/13/2010 11:31:10 AM , Rating: 2

Which model are you referring to? The OSX mobile model or the Android model? Because the WinMo model appears to be just as viable as either one...it's just that WinMo7 hasn't hit the streets yet. These types of articles are fodder for people who can't see the future very clearly.

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RE: Wow how market share changes...

By Fox5 on 1/13/2010 12:19:53 PM , Rating: 2

Sorry for not being clear, I meant the android business model.
Ballmer made a comment about not understanding it, and how he didn't think it could succeed.

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RE: Wow how market share changes...

By dubldwn on 1/13/2010 11:49:31 AM , Rating: 2

Well, it seems that they’re two different business models. While I would never use a closed desktop like a Mac, as I am a system builder, I think the fact that the iPhone is closed is great. So do many developers. I won’t be upgrading my phone hardware, and the software is silky smooth.

Android offers users and developers more freedom, but there’s so many handsets. Imo, MS is the worst of both worlds and needs to lean on there desktop dominance by offering mobile/desktop integration.

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