Microsoft and Acer move in on smartphone sector

The smartphone revolution continues to gain momentum, with computer giant Microsoft announcing a deal that will see electronics manufacturer LG use the Windows Mobile operating system for its smartphones, while Taiwanese computer group Acer says it will start developing its own smartphones.

The announcements were made at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, where major mobile developers such as Nokia, HTC and Ericsson are all in attendance to trumpet new products. Apple, developer of the popular smartphone pace-setter iPhone, did not attend the conference this year.

The largest announcement so far is Microsoft’s deal with LG Electronics, which will see the two groups work closely on research and development for new smartphones.

As part of the deal, all new LG smartphones will use the Microsoft Windows Mobile software, currently the third most popular mobile operating system behind Nokia’s Symbian and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry.

“This agreement between LG and Microsoft will create critical momentum in the industry,” LG chief executive Yong Nam said in a statement. “With this partnership, mobile computing will truly become an everyday reality, and LG and Microsoft will be at the forefront of it.”

The first phone to be released as part of the deal will be the LG GM730 smartphone, which will come preloaded with Windows Mobile 6.1. The device will include document viewers, wi-fi capability, a camera and access to a faster version of the 3G network that can deliver a 7.2 megabytes per-second connection.

Another shock announcement was made by computer group Acer, which says it will now enter the smartphone market as it revealed a group of 10 high-end devices.

The company, which is most popular for its laptops, says it will release four devices by April. All the devices will include touch-screens, wi-fi capability, high-speed network access and cameras.

The company says it will use the Windows Mobile operating system for its smartphones, but will also look at other software packages for future models. It says moving into the smartphone market was an inevitable move.

“The smartphone market is a natural direction of our long-term mobile strategy,” chief executive Gianfranco Lanci said during a press conference at the congress.

The two announcements come as research from Gartner and Telsyte reveal smartphone sales are set to increase sharply over the next 12 months.