LG Launches An Apps Store, But Shows No Love For The U.S.

As LG had previously indicated, it is set to launch its own version of an apps store for mobile phones on July 14. When the store opens, it will have over 1,400 apps available for Windows Mobile phones. Too bad LG has no plans to open the apps store in the U.S.LG is the world's third-largest maker of mobile phones, behind Nokia and Samsung, numbers one and two, respectively. With just about every handset maker launching their own versions of the iPhone Apps Store, it's no surprise that the world's third biggest phone company would hop on board the gravy train.

The LG Applications Store (as it is officially to be known) goes live in Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Australia on Tuesday, July 14. According to LG, more than 1,400 applications will be available when the store opens. As many as 100 of those apps will be free. The store will also support about 15 languages. LG plans to expand to Europe and South America by the end of 2009, and believes the apps store will have over 2,000 applications by the close of the year.

For now, the store only supports LG's Windows Mobile smartphones.

It is disappointing to learn that LG has no plans to expand the store to the U.S. LG has a large presence here, with carriers such as AT&T, Sprint and Verizon selling piles of LG phones each year. Perhaps the reasoning is with the miniscule number of LG Windows Mobile phones in the U.S. In fact, the company sells just one at the moment, the Incite. LG has said that Windows Mobile is going to be its smartphone platform of choice and that more models are on the way.

Is LG going to wait until these new Windows Mobile smartphones are ready for the U.S. market before launching the apps store in the U.S.? Well, there's one other factor to consider: Microsoft.

Microsoft's own Windows Apps Store is set to go live later this year. Perhaps Microsoft exerted pressure on LG, as it might not want the competition. That's conjecture on my part, but it isn't too much of a stretch to believe. Even if Microsoft didn't directly ask LG not to launch a Windows Mobile-based apps store in the U.S., it stands to reason that LG may be avoiding the U.S. market for just that reason.

As for the store itself, I took some time to poke around it this morning. It is pretty easy to navigate, search for apps, and has apps sorted into categories such as top rated, apps of the week, try & buy, new and so on. The store has potential. Will it succeed? That depends on how fast LG is able to get more Windows Mobile devices in the market and how fast LG can expand the store to more regions.