November 3 in Seoul, South Korea, LG Electronics and Microsoft announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to form a strategic collaboration in "mobile convergence":

The agreement was signed in Seoul by Yong Nam, Vice-Chairman and chief executive officer of LG Electronics and Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft.

The agreement ensures continued strategic collaboration in R&D, marketing, applications, and services in the field of converged mobile devices. The proposed partnership also reflects both companies’ commitment to leverage best-in-class technology, resources and expertise by joining forces with leading players in key markets.

In particular, as a part of its strategy to reinforce LG’s global competitiveness in smartphone, LG sets mid to long term goals and documentaries number of products, R&D, marketing, and service to meet these goals. Under the MoU, converged mobile device business will be reinforced through incorporating LG’s core competences in marketing and products in mobile and IT sector and Microsoft’s proficiency in Windows Mobile OS, application, and service.

Interesting and exciting news, I would say! I wonder if this means we should expect to see an HTC-like surge from LG, with a wider range of WM phones and software/hardware innovations...?