LG backs Android in its plan to become world's second largest mobile phone supplier.

LG plans to launch 20 new smartphones this year of which more than half will be Android based smartphones, as part of an aggressive drive to sell 140 million mobile phones this year.

LG's Chocolate handset turned heads for its cool design when it was launched in 2006, and the company has tried to establish a reputation for design prowess with models like the Shine, Glimmer and Prada phones. However these models have also been criticised for being expensive and lacking features like 3G coverage.

But LG is enjoying rapid growth: in 2007 it sold 80 million mobiles, and last year it sold 116 million. Gartner Research director Carolina Milanesi
said that based on its current performance, '140 million is possible.'

Right now LG has a 10.3% market share behind Samsung (19.6%) and market leader Nokia.

Significantly, LG believes that focusing on the smartphone market will help its goals. Smartphones account for a small proportion of the total global market for smartphones.

For example, the latest research by Forrester Research, found that in the US, the world's largest and richest market, smartphones accounted for just 17% of the total mobile market.

Forrester defined a smartphone as 'a mobile phone or connected handheld device that uses a high-level operating system, including iPhone OS, BlackBerry OS, Windows Mobile, PalmOS, WebOS, Symbian, and any flavor of Linux including Android.'

However the smartphone market is highly profitable unlike the thin margin sector of low end mobiles. And LG said that it is also the fastest growing sector.

Forrester's research backs up that proposition, in the US at least. The market researcher said that smartphones accounted for just 7% of mobile sales in the US in 2007, up to 11% in 2008 and 17% during 2009.

Forrester also predicted that Android-based devices will drive growth this year as the range and number of Android handsets proliferates. Forrester also warned Nokia and Microsoft will continue to see their market shares in the smartphone markets continue to fall unless they improve their offerings.

'It is still early days for Android as far as sales are concerned, but generally both carriers and consumers have been very positive on the OS and there is a lot of momentum,' said Milanesi. 'LG might be getting into the game a bit later than HTC and a little more quietly than Motorola, but it is certainly set to take advantage of the momentum we are seeing.'