LG Launches An App Store, But Not In The U.S.
Phone manufacturers seem to be in a bit of a race to match the success of Apple’s App Store. Now, LG is joining the race and plans to launch its own store for mobile phone applications tomorrow. In a statement, LG said the LG Application Store will provide 1,400 applications for Windows Mobile phones including 100 free programs. The store will support 15 languages. 
Initially, the store will be available in Asia-Pacific countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Australia. LG plans to make the store available in other markets such as Europe and South America by the end of the year. LG plans to increase the number of applications to more than 2,000 by the end of the year as well. LG has yet to make any plans to launch the marketplace in the U.S.
LG is currently the world’s third largest manufacturer of mobile phones, behind No. 1 Nokia and Samsung (No. 2). Although it’s disappointing to learn that LG isn’t planning to launch the Application Store in the U.S., one possible explanation could be the fact that LG currently offers only one Windows Mobile phone (the Incite) here in the U.S., so the market for the store would be rather limited at this point.
LG has said that it plans to offer additional Windows Mobile phones in the future, and that Windows Mobile will be its smartphone platform of choice. This makes us wonder: Will LG wait until these new Windows Mobile smartphones are available in the U.S. to make the Application Store available as well? It’s certainly possible, though there is another factor to consider, and that’s competition from Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Mobile application store which is set to launch later this year.
