LG Moves Away From WP; Probably Won’t Be Missed

You may or may not be aware of this but LG actually has two WPs out there, released all the way back in 2010 the Optimus 7 and Quantum are their only current (and seemingly future) contributions to the OS. Earlier today during an Android event their CEO (Park Jong) went on record stating that they had: “no specific plans for other mobile platforms (besides android)”. I haven’t been following LG very closely but I assume that they are at the very best “struggling”, having cast the majority of its lot into Google’s platform seems to have backfired a bit; yet they insist on sticking to the platform due to LTE & UI patents involving Android.

Has Android really become a show for only the “big dogs”? HTC (who own the second best selling Android smart selling smartphone- the One X) are also undergoing serious sales problems competing in that realm (hence the rumored strong “reappearance” with WP8). At this point it seems Android has become synonymous with Samsung just as much as Symbian was to Nokia in its final days (before being fully acquired by Nokia).

LG were never really dedicated to the WP platform, and never truly tried pursuing a proper foothold in the OS; not releasing a single phone ever since the initial launch (they never released a WP 7.5 device, only 7.0 that were later updated). As of now only 7% of Windows Phones run on an LG device (keep in mind that they were with WP almost a year before Nokia joined), meaning that LG’s problems probably aren’t coming from a failed WP push since they never really bothered with it.

So what does this mean for Nokia? Probably not much since LG were never a true competitor (I still relate them to dishwashers and TVs more than smartphones); the dynamic of WP probably won’t be affected either, especially since Huawei are reportedly planning a WP8 device of their own; which should more than make up for LG’s abandonment. What interests me more is how long Nokia’s success in WP will last, of course leading the OS share is great; but having a landslide percent might discourage other OEMs from committing to WP; which is possibly why LG decided to go back to Android.

Does WP = Nokia in people’s minds? More so than Android = Samsung? If so Nokia might be headed down a slippery slope of being left all alone once again, but it seems they’ve learned their lessons; namely by holding out on skinning WP8 to their advantage to keep the playing ground fair….for now.

Via

Category: Lumia, Nokia, Symbian, Windows Phone