Hmmm... LG To Challenge Apple And BlackBerry With KM900

The Mobile World Congress is set to assemble, but apparently the guys at LG can't help but raise the curtain just a little to show the world what it has in store. With the smartphone industry picking up speed and competition, LG seems more than happy to throw its own creation into the mix – the sleek LG KM900, also known as the LG Arena.

The smartphone market is currently led by – what else – the Apple iPhone 3G, with BlackBerry's creations running a close second. Google's gPhone is also in the running, enjoying a thinner pool of competition as Apple's recent patent on touchscreen technology threw a wrench into Palm's works. LG hasn't divulged too much about the LG Arena, and its impact in the market still remains to be seen – but what we do know about it so far might make things a bit more interesting in the race to snag the “smartphone” synonym.

In a nutshell, the LG Arena has basically what most other smartphones have – a touchscreen interface, some nifty “must-have” features, and a sexy, high-end design. Its major draws will probably be its solid 5.0-megapixel camera (dwarfing the iPhone 3G's 2.0 megapixel camera by miles), its sleek form factor, and its intriguing 3-D touchscreen user interface - all enough to make Apple's legal team snap on its rubber gloves.

LG is evidently banking on the success of another recent creation, the LG Renoir KC910, which was a handset that also featured a touchscreen and good media connectivity. Many people in the tech industry expect the LG Arena to have the same features and more, and even more have high hopes for what else it can offer.

All said, this is what I have to say. If you didn't show up before the iPhone, you're just late. And as painful this may sound to the true leaders in the mobile phone making industry, playing catch up is a "bee eye tee sea aye-chh". Apple are experts at giving us great technology, that captures your imagination from the get-go, and delivers it in cleverly designed, elegant packaging.

What? Did I hear "Mac-fanboy"? Who you calling a Mac-fanboy, you Amstrad-has-been? Don't make me angry. You won't like me when I am angry.

Anyway Hulk one liners aside, what I'd like to see in the LG Arena (and in other smartphones and midrange handsets in the future) would be the open-source "feature". In the industry, Google is arguably the strongest advocate of open-source mobile technology, with the gPhone's Android operating system rivaling the iPhone's own OS as the most popular platform of choice for mobile programmers everywhere. Some experts (me included, naturally) believe that while the iPhone might hold the top spot for now, the gPhone and other open-source smartphones will take the lead (for good) in the long run. After all, there's only so much you can do when you limit innovation the way Appl... errr Microsoft has been doing for so long.

But, like most other developments in the technology sector, it's often best to leave the race to the mobile phone experts and just sit back and watch things unfold from a safe distance. As for the LG Arena, I'm sure it's going to make a splash pretty soon. OK, no I don't really think that. I am think more like ripples. Yeah, ripples you see on a quiet pond, when a leaf fall to the surface of the water. Yep, ripples I tell you. And it'll be interesting to see what the other big names in the smartphone runnings do about it.