LG Electronics announced its first Android-based device on Monday. The announcement comes on the heels of company news about three new Windows Mobile smartphones coming to market in the next few weeks.

Dubbed the LG-GW620, the Android smartphone offers a three-inch touchscreen and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard aimed at consumers who want more flexibility with messaging. LG expects strong demand for smartphones that support social-networking functions out of the box. The phone will debut in “select European markets” in the fourth quarter, signaling that it may not see U.S. shores.

“The LG-GW620 will appeal to first-time smartphone customers by offering a new and different kind of user experience,” said Dr. Skott Ahn, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications. “Our objective is to supply a wide selection of smartphones to satisfy the diverse preferences of today’s consumers. that Android phone is just one of many smartphone models we plan to introduce worldwide in the years ahead.”

LG’s Mixed Strategy

LG is a member of the Open Handset Alliance, so its move into Android devices comes as no surprise. But LG isn’t betting exclusively — or even predominantly — on Android, at least for the short term. In addition to the Android model, LG recently announced it will introduce a minimum of 13 new smartphones by the next 16 months that run on Windows Mobile.

“Very much like Samsung, LG’s operating-system strategy is you can’t lose whether you bet on every horse. LG has Windows Mobile and Symbian,” said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis. “LG is not a capability in smartphones and dabbling in different operating systems is not likely to get them there, either.”

But LG is clearly betting on smartphones, likely due to market research that demonstrates their rapid growth. According to the NPD Group, when it comes to mobile-phone…

[Source] dhiram