UPDATED · News · 13 Jan 2010 · MTW Editorial Team
LG just confirmed today what we heard last week during a press conference today. LG’s CEO Skott Ahn confirmed that the company is betting on Android to boost their marketshare in 2010 and that it has no plan to build their own mobile OS (are they dropping feature-phones?). Ahn also blamed Windows Mobile’s “legacy issues” as a reason why the South Korean company is going to ship more Android phones than WinMo handsets in 2010:
LG said its 2010 offerings would also include phones running on Microsoft Corp’s Windows Mobile and LiMo’s Linux-based software. LG executives declined to say how many Windows phones it was planning to release.
In February last year, LG signed a deal with Microsoft, then saying Windows Mobile would become the primary operating system for its smartphones.
“The fact that we’ll have a bit more Android phones this year doesn’t mean our ties with Microsoft are weakening,” Ahn said.
“Windows Mobile still has legacy issues that makes it challenging to compete in mobiles: we know it and Microsoft knows it,” he said.
Microsoft said the company was very pleased with its relationship with LG and is looking forward to bringing a number of new phones to market in 2010.
I guess that those legacy issues = Being stuck with Windows Mobile 6.5 until the late release of Windows Mobile 7. It is actually the second time the word “Legacy” is used to describe WM6.X this week. Microsoft’s Greg Sullivan, Senior Marketing Manager:
“We’re going to continue investing in the user experience, and the legacy pocket PC 1999 UI that still kind of shows up if you drill down pretty deep? that’s another thing that’s changed.”
Source: Reuters
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