Expect more LG smartphones by end of year

LG's big CTIA news was the introduction of the LG Xenon and Neon for AT&T, and Nicole Lee's all over the messaging phones with hands-on impressions and photos.

LG-GM730

(Credit: LG)

However, I wandered over to the LG booth myself (actually, I crashed Nicole's one-on-one meeting), because I wanted to find out what the company's plans are for bringing more smartphones to the United States.

As you might remember, LG announced at GSMA 2009 that it has committed to the Windows Mobile operating system for its smartphones, intends to increase the number of Windows phones available in 2009 tenfold, and bring up to 26 new devices in 2012.

It even announced the LG-GM730 to kick-start the mission. That said, it was a little unclear whether this would extend to U.S. shores. Well, there's good news and bad news.

The bad news is that there are no current plans to bring the GM730 Stateside, nor are there any new releases scheduled for the near future.

However, LG said it recognizes that more and more customers are wanting smartphones, so there's a big push internally to move in that direction, and we should see new models toward the end of 2009/early 2010. Obviously not ideal, considering that's still a ways away, but at least we know they're coming. Currently, the LG Incite is the only LG smartphone available with a U.S. carrier.